Manila Standard - 2016 December 11 - Sunday

BUSINESS / C1

YOUNG ZALORA CEO CHANGES FASHION RETAIL

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VOL. XXX • NO. 302 • 5 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

MALAYSIA TROOPS INTERCEPT 5 ABUS

By Francisco Tuyay

M

ALAYSIAN security forces killed a leader of the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping group and captured two of his cohorts in a foiled kidnap attempt in Lahad Datu, Malaysia Saturday afternoon.

The attempted kidnapping occurred only hours after three soldiers were killed while 10 others were wounded in a clash with the Abu Sayyaf group in Patikul, Sulu on Saturday morning.

Major Filemon Tan, spokesman of the Western Command, said Malaysian authorities are still looking

for two more Abu Sayyaf bandits who disappeared after Malaysian navy vessels sunk their speedboat around 2:40 p.m. Saturday.

Tan identified the slain Abu Sayyaf leader as Abraham Hamid, who is believed to have been responsible for the kidnapping of two Canadians, one Norwegian

and a Filipina at a beach resort in Samal City on September 21 last year.

Malaysian authorities said Hamid and his men had just landed at the shore of Lahad Datu town in Sabah on an alleged mission to snatch another batch of victims when they were intercepted by Malaysian security forces.

Hamid is also believed to be behind the attack on the Indonesian tugboat Henry which was traversing waters between Tawi-Tawi and Lahad Datu when the bandits intercepted them and forcibly took four of their five crewmen hostage.

“The death of Hamid is a big blow to the ASG as it neutralized one of the notorious bandits lead-

er and will degrade their capability for spotting and kidnapping victims in the future,” Tan said.

Tan said the two captured ASG bandits were identified as Samsung Aljan and Awal Hajal.

The foiled kidnapping happened shortly before the start in January of a joint army training program agreed between the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia to secure the Sulu Sea from rampant piracy.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had earlier explained that the trilateral training would begin with each of the three countries training their own army personnel in January 2017 before joint training later in the year.

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MANILA PROPOSES 2 KEY DOCUMENTS AS HEAD OF ASEAN

THE Philippines will be proposing two declarations on combatting terrorism and promoting maritime cooperation when the country assumes the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year, sources told the Manila Standard.

Sources privy to the country’s preparations for the Asean chairmanship said the two documents will be called the “Manila Declaration to Combat

the Rise of Radicalization and Violent Extremism” and “Asean Joint Declaration on the Decade of Maritime Cooperation and Prosperity.”

The documents are planned to be tackled and approved during the Asean Leader’s Summit in August or September next year.

The Philippines, along with Indonesia and Malaysia, faces threats of terrorism brought by the rise of local groups that have sworn allegiance to the Daesh.

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TRUMP

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dered a review of all cyberattacks that took place during the 2016 election cycle, amid growing calls from Congress for more information on the extent of Russian interference in the campaign.

The newspaper cited officials briefed on the matter as saying that individuals with connections to Moscow provided anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks with emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign chief and others.

Those emails were steadily leaked out via WikiLeaks in the months before the election, damaging Clinton’s White House run.

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YOUNG LIFE / E2

5 INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS YOU SHOULD FOLLOW

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

CIA: RUSSIA MEDDLED IN US POLLS FOR TRUMP WASHINGTON—A secret CIA assessment has found that Russia sought to tip last month’s US presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor, The Washington Post reported Friday, a conclusion that drew an extraordinary rebuke from the president-elect’s camp.

“These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” Trump’s transition team said, launching a broadside against the spy agency.

“The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again.’”

The Washington Post report comes after President Barack Obama or-

MEXICO QUIETLY MARKS 10 YEARS OF DRUG WAR

DE LIMA ALLOWED TO TRAVEL —AGUIRRE

BACK TO OLD WAYS. File photo shows Abu Sayyaf extremists watching over their former hostages whom they seized in Samal Island in September 2015. The group again tried to seize a fresh batch of hostages in the Malaysian town of Lahad Datu but were foiled by Malaysian securiity forces.

By John Paolo Bencito

WORLD / B3

PUTIN

THE Department of Justice on Saturday allowed Senator Leila de Lima to leave the country despite the allegations that she is a key protector of drug traffickers from the country’s national penitentiary.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre explained his department had to issue De Lima an Allow Departure Order (ADO) since no case has been filed against her yet.

“Acting on the letter of Senator De Lima relative to her plan to travel abroad, the DoJ has issued an Allow Departure Order or ADO to allow her to travel abroad because no case has yet been filed against her before the courts,” DoJ Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said relaying Aguirre’s response.

On Friday, De Lima wrote Aguirre a letter baring her plan to travel to the United States to accept an award and to Germany to speak before the Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy.

De Lima said that both visits are “very important” to her as a lawmaker.

“I will have a chance to speak before influential world leaders and global thinkers on raising awareness and support for human rights, an advocacy I am passionate about,” De Lima wrote in a statement.

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MALAYSIA...

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The military training will take place in Indonesia’s Tarakan in North Kalimantan, Malaysia’s Tawau in Sabah, where Lahad Datu is located, and the Philippines’ Bongao Island.

Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said the three training locations would later become outposts for a joint task force assigned to help secure Sulu waters.

The trilateral training was agreed between Lorenzana, Ryamizard and Malaysian defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein in a series of meetings that started in August.

Earlier on Saturday, the 35th Infantry Battalion, led by Lieutenant Colonel Vlademir Villanueva, was holding military operations in Barangay Kabbon Takkas in Patikul when they encountered a group of over a hundred members of the Abu Sayyaf at around 10 a.m.

The group that clashed with the 35th IB is believed to be led by Abu Sayyaf senior leader Radullan Sahiron and sub-leaders Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, Yasser Igasan, and Mujer Yadah.

Tan said the firefight with Sahiron’s group means the military was already close to the group of the Abu Sayyaf leaders, subjects of the troops’ months-long manhunt.

MANILA...

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BONSAI FOR CHRISTMAS. A vendor offers bonsai plants to motorists at an intersection in Manila ahead of the Christmas season. Lino Santos

Earlier drafts of thematic priorities to be pushed by the Philippines during its chairmanship are “a people-oriented and people-centered Asean; peace and stability in the region; maritime security and cooperation; Asean resiliency; and Asean as a model of regionalism and a global player.”

Sources, however, said there is still no word among the leaders of 10-nation bloc if it is looking to produce or mention a binding Code of Conduct on South China Sea. President Rodrigo Duterte, who will serve as the chairman of the bloc, had earlier opted to sign agreements on joint coast guard patrols with Beijing instead of pursuing the line of the previous administration for China to abandon its claims over contested waters “to lower regional tensions.”

Asean leaders just agreed to adopt agreements such as the “Joint Statement of the Foreign Ministers of Asean Member States and China on the Full and Effective Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea” and an agreement to create the framework on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea in the South China Sea. The Palace, meanwhile, has yet to name the director-general of the Asean National Organizing Committee, but a source said Chief Presidential Protocol Marciano Paynor Jr., whom President Rodrigo Duterte earlier named as Philippine Ambassador to the United States “will stay” to aide the President in discharging his duties as Asean chairman.

The source said Duterte is considering retaining Paynor in the country for the purpose because of his experience from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit held in the country last year.

Robert Eric Borje, whom Duterte earlier named as Paynor’s replacement as chief presidential protocol office, meanwhile, was reappointed for another foreign service post.

TAIWAN PUSHES NEW SOUTHBOUND POLICY T

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

AIWANESE Ambassador Dr. Gary SongHuann Lin urged Filipino entrepreneurs to pursue partnerships with Taiwanese firms in agribusiness, manufacturing, banking, transport, and communications, infrastructure and real estate, and tourism and logistics to take advantage of Taiwan’s “New Southbound Policy.”

Lin said the Philippines should take advantage of Taipeh’s new policy that considers the Philippines the main gateway for the “New Southbound Policy” aimed at expanding cooperation and partnership with Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“As the Philippines is poised for high and sustained growth, its market is one of the biggest Asean markets. It is one of the fastest-rowing economies in the world and its economic fundamentals are good and strong,” Lin said.

Lin said the Philippines has the

DE LIMA ...

partnership with Asean countries,” Lin said.

“We are not only geographically close to each other. We also share common values of freedom, democracy, free media, rule of law, civil society, and similar Austronesia culture and destiny. Furthermore, Taiwanese and Filipinos share common traits with being optimistic, courteous, and caring,” Lin said.

Lin also said that Taiwan is the “genuine friend” of the Philippines where both countries are ready to come in aid quickly when calamities hit the two countries.

“Physically, it takes only one hour and 45 minutes by airplane to travel between Taiwan and the Philippines. However, we are closer than anyone can think of. Whenever there are natural calamities in the Philippines, Taiwan, as a genuine friend and close neighbor of the Philippines, is always quick to respond and one of the first countries to extend a helping hand by providing humanitarian assistance,” Lin noted.

CIA: ...

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De Lima assured the public that she will return to the country despite ongoing hearing against her alleged involvement in illegal drug trade.

“I hope my brief absence would provide a welcome relief and respite to my detractors and critics. I will keep them in mind though,” the lady lawmaker said.

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, however, expressed disappointment over Aguirre’s decision, saying it will try to prevent De Lima from leaving the country on Sunday. De Lima is scheduled to leave the country on Sunday night and said she will be back on December 22.

The group said in forum that the VACC filed two separate cases against her before the DoJ and Supreme Court in October.

One was a drug trafficking complaint implicating De Lima in the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison; and a disbarment case against her because of her admitted illicit affair with her former driver-bodyguard Ronnie Dayan.

Two other disbarment case have been filed against De Lima by lawyers Agustin Sundiam and Ricardo Rivera.

“She should stay in the country to answer to the charges that we filed against

biggest English-speaking population in Asean and lots of energetic and talented professionals.

“The Filipino consumer market is young whose purchasing power has been one of the best among Asean countries,” Lin further said.

“All of these factors help explain why we should work in partnership, I am sure that our two countries will benefit from it.”

Likewise, he also urged all Taiwanese entrepreneurs to diversify their investments to the Philippines, citing the continuous improvement of the country’s infrastructure and

the increasing efficiency of operations at ports.

Lin admitted that Taiwan has long neglected and overlooked by other Asean countries but Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen wants Taipeh to aggressively push for its “New Southbound Policy” to “diversify and balance” its regional ties.

The New Southbound Policy, which was launched last September, will focus on forging long-term comprehensive, multi-faceted, two-way, reciprocal and mutually beneficial relations with 18 countries, including the 10 members of the Asean, South Asian countries, New Zealand and Australia.

“Taiwan is also aiming to forge a sense of economic community with these nations to help Taiwan identify new directions and build new momentum for its economic development,” Lin said.

“The Philippines, under the New Southbound Policy is seen as the most important country as the gateway for Taiwan to expand multifaceted cooperation and

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her,” VACC chairman Dante Jimenez asserted.

Balmes, on the other hand, said that Aguirre is just following the law allowing any individuals to travel until the proper court issues a Hold Departure Order (HDO).

“The DoJ respect the right of everyone to express their opinion. However, one of the duties of the DoJ is to enforce our laws,” Aguirre said.

He also noted that De Lima has acquired a travel authority signed by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III. “We respect and follow the law,” Balmes said.

“The DoJ under the watch of Secretary Aguirre will not be the first to violate the law or to violate the rights of any person,” Balmes pointed out.

The only legal resort that the VACC has is to ask President Rodrigo Duterte to revoke the travel clearance, VACC lawyer Lorenzo Gadon said.

Both Jimenez and Gadon feared that De Lima might not return and seek refuge to Germany, which does not have an extradition treaty with the Philippines.

Jimenez said De Lima has another hearing on December 21 but the lawmaker is schedule to return to the Philippines on December 22.

The Russians’ aim was to help Donald Trump win and not just undermine the US electoral process, the paper reported.

“It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected,” the newspaper quoted a senior US official briefed on an intelligence presentation last week to key senators as saying.

“That’s the consensus view.”

CIA agents told the lawmakers it was “quite clear” that electing Trump was Russia’s goal, according to officials who spoke to the Post, citing growing evidence from multiple sources.

However, some questions remain unanswered and the CIA’s assessment fell short of a formal US assessment produced by all 17 intelligence agencies, the newspaper said.

For example, intelligence agents don’t have proof that Russian officials directed the identified individuals to supply WikiLeaks with the hacked Democratic emails.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has denied links with Russia’s government.

Those individuals were “one step” removed from the Russian government, which is consistent with past practices

by Moscow to use “middlemen” in sensitive intelligence operations to preserve plausible deniability, the report said.

At the White House, Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Obama called for the cyberattacks review earlier this week to ensure “the integrity of our elections.”

“This report will dig into this pattern of malicious cyberactivity timed to our elections, take stock of our defensive capabilities and capture lessons learned to make sure that we brief members of Congress and stakeholders as appropriate,” Schultz said.

Obama wants the report completed before his term ends on January 20.

“We are going to make public as much as we can,” the spokesman added. “This is a major priority for the president.”

The move comes after Democrats in Congress pressed the White House to reveal details, to Congress or to the public, of Russian hacking and disinformation in the election.

On October 7, one month before the election, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence announced that “the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and

institutions, including from US political organizations.”

“These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process,” they said.

Trump dismissed those findings in an interview published Wednesday by Time magazine for its “Person of the Year” award. Asked if the intelligence was politicized, Trump answered: “I think so.”

“I don’t believe they interfered,” he said. “It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.”

Worried that Trump will sweep the issue under the rug after his inauguration, seven Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee called on November 29 for the White House to declassify what it knows about Russian interference.

The seven have already been briefed on the classified details, suggesting they believe there is more information the public should know.

On Tuesday this week, leading House Democrats called on Obama to give members of the entire Congress a classified briefing on Russian interference, from hacking to the spreading of fake news stories to mislead US voters. AFP

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BALIKBAYAN BOXES EXEMPTED FROM DUTIES STARTING XMAS

By Vito Barcelo

EARLY CHRISTMAS. More than 60,000 residents of the highly urbanized city of Mandaluyong—one of 16 cities in the metropolis—receive during the weekend their Yuletide gifts from the local government. Andrew Rabulan

MALACAÑANG: TUGADE HAS PRESIDENT’S CONFIDENCE

By John Paolo Bencito

A

MID ouster calls, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade still has the full support of his San Beda law classmate, President Rodrigo Duterte, for “doing his best to solve the country’s traffic woes,” Malacañang said Saturday.

“Secretary Tugade, as a presidential appointee, enjoys the trust and confidence of the President. With barely a few months [on the job] he is really doing his best,” Communications Assistant Secretary Ana Marie Paz Banaag told state radio dzRB. “We acknowledge that there are sectors who are calling for Secretary Tugade to resign but then

we can see that they are doing their best also at their end to solve the traffic problem and everything that has concerns about the DoTr,” she added.

On Tuesday, the Transportation Department took the cudgels for Tugade after a newly-formed Transport group called for his resignation, saying Tugade answered “baseless accusations

against him with ‘work, work, work’.”

It cited the relaunch of the Pasig Ferry, the release of driver’s license cards by the first quarter of 2017, and the rehabilitation of the Philippine National Railways line to Bicol and other initiatives such as the opening the second phase of the Naia Expressway project together with the Department of Public Works and Highways and San Miguel Corp., bottlenecks at the LRT-1, and ensuring an avenue to receive complaints from rude passenger drivers for the upcoming Christmas holidays.

Lawmakers from the minority had earlier urged Duterte not to reappoint Tugade for his failure to solve Metro Manila’s traffic woes within 100 days—his own selfimposed timeline—after assuming

office.

Tugade has been pushing for Congress to enact Duterte’s proposed measures on emergency powers to resolve traffic, brought about by the lack of resolve from the past administration to address traffic woes in the metropolis where 15 million of the 105 million country’s population live.

Another group calling for his ouster, the Road Users Protection Advocates, accused the Transport chief of condoning 1,316 illegal aliens working at Jack Lam’s online gambling business in Fontana Leisure Park and Casino while still president of the Clark Development Corp. in Pampanga.

Before joining the Duterte Cabinet, Tugade was once CDC president under the past administration.

LUMADS GO HOME WITH GIFTS

FROM THREAT TO PARTNER.

Newly confirmed Ambassador Chito Sta. Romana to the People’s Republic of China tackles the ties between Manila and Beijing during the weekly news forum in Quezon City, reiterating an earlier claim the Duterte administration looks at its giant northern neighbor not as a threat but a partner in economic development.

Manny Palmero

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera DAVAO CITY—Some 7,000 lumads hosted by the city government in seven shelter areas were sent home Saturday—10 days after they descended from their hinterland communities in time for Christmas.

The lumads were sent home with gifts and pails full of grocery items from the local government.

And when they arrive in their communities, the lumads will be treated to activities designed for them to truly enjoy Christmas.

The Davao City Social Services and Development Office have also distributed 12,000 ration cards in seven lumad communities in Paquibato and Marilog.

CSSDO chief Maria Luisa Bermudo said every day, the city government would provide the lumads with food packs containing two kilos of rice, packs of noodles, and canned goods.

“This is the first time the city government is doing this,” said lawyer Raul Nadela, Jr., chief of staff of Mayor Inday Sara-Carpio.

“And this is because we intend to bring and share the joys of Christmas with our lumad brothers and sisters right to their very communities,” he added.

Activities lined up for the lumads are mass weddings, tribal games, dances, children’s parties, indigenous products showcase, birth registrations, and delivery of health services.

As of Thursday, at least 199 lumad couples in Paquibato and Marilog were married, according to Bermudo.

For the past 10 days, the city government extended food and social services to the lumads, including those who came from communities outside Davao City.

LABOR DEPT. TO PROTECT WORKERS’ BASIC RIGHTS THE Department of Labor and Employment has vowed to enforce labor standards and protect the workers’ fundamental rights, and assured workers it will abolish the “endo” scheme and other forms of illegal contractualization by yearend.

Speaking at the 83rd Foundation Anniversary of the Department of Labor and Employment in Quezon City, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III also guaranteed strengthened protection and security of overseas Filipino workers overseas.

“While it is our desire to eventually bring them [OFWs] all back home and be with their families by providing job opportunities locally, we will remain steadfast in ensuring that their dignity as Filipinos are protected while on foreign soil,” the Secretary said.

Bello also acknowledged the DoLE’s tripartite partners for their contribution to sound industrial climate, and called for the protection of investors and employers who continue to contribute to the creation of jobs across industries.

“We thank our employers and investors for their important contributions to the Philippine economy, and for continuing to provide employment to millions of Filipinos. They are the indispensable partners of DoLE, Bello said.

He said one of the goals of the government was to create an environment that would attract more investors, as well as inspire those already here to expand their businesses and provide more jobs.

“This is necessary for us to attain the 7.5 million jobs the Duterte administration

has promised to create during the term of President Digong,” Bello said.

Bello said consistent with the pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte to bring back the trust and confidence of the Filipino people for the government, the government is firm with its goal to make the Department an honest, efficient, responsive and caring institution.

He enjoined the DoLE employees to be “exemplars of good public servants.”

“As we march onwards, I call on all officials and co-workers in the Department to serve the Filipino people, for labor and employment reforms, for the protection of the rights and dignity of the Filipino workers, and for the continued confidence of our investors in the Philippines,” Bello said. Vito Barcelo

STARTING Christmas Day, all balikbayan boxes sent by Filipinos abroad will now be exempted from duties and taxes, according to Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.

The BOC and the Department of Finance have signed Customs Administrative Order 05-2016, which concerns the consolidated shipment of balikbayan boxes, to take effect on Dec. 25, 2016.

The order is under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, which includes raising the tax exemption ceiling for balikbayan boxes sent home by overseas Filipino workers.

Aside from promoting transparency in the graft-ridden bureau, and making collection of taxes more efficient, the CMTA law raises the tax exemption on consumer goods sent home by overseas Filipinos to their families, from the present P10,000 to P150,000.

Faeldon said the order serves as the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the CMTA and covers the sending of balikbayan boxes by qualified Filipinos while abroad to their families and relatives.

“Filipinos abroad may avail [themselves] of duty and tax free privileges on balikbayan boxes containing personal effects and households goods,” Faeldon said.

He said the Filipinos abroad availing themselves of the exemption must present valid passports issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and certified by Department of Labor and Employment or Philippine Overseas Employment Administration for overseas employment purposes regardless of profession.

“Non-resident Filipinos who have established permanent residency abroad but retained their Filipino citizenship, Filipino citizens who temporarily stay abroad may include holders of student visa, investors’ visa, tourist visa, and similar visas which allow them to establish temporary stay abroad can avail [themselves of] the exemption,” he said.

Faeldon also ordered shipments of balikbayan boxes that would take three-day shipping time must be delivered within 24 hours after arrival, while shipments that would take seven-day shipping time must be out 48 hours after arrival.

Shipments from America, Europe, Middle East, and other parts of the world that do not fall under the above shipping time must be released 10 days after arrival.

FORMER SAF TROOPER TOPS EXAMS

By Joel E. Zurbano A FORMER Special Action Force trooper topped the list of passers in this year’s Police Executive Service Eligibility test for the third level ranks, the National Police Commission announced.

Police Supt. Wildemar Tan Tiu, a BS Civil Engineering graduate and member of the Philippine National Police Academy Sambigkis Class of 2003, is this year’s Pese topnotcher.

Tiu, deputy chief of the Permit to Carry Firearm Outside of Residence (PTCFOR) Unit under the Office of the Chief, PNP, placed first among 259 senior police officials who passed the validation interview phase of the Pes Eligibility process.

Napolcom Vice Chairman and Executive Officer Rogelio Casurao said Tiu had remarkable academic credentials.

“Aside from being a licensed civil engineer, he also has two master’s degrees in public administration and business administration. He is also a recipient of numerous awards and commendations in his 16 years of dedicated police service.”

Prior to his present assignment at the PTCFOR Unit, Tiu served as Station Commander of Police Stations 2, 3 and 4 of Cebu City Police Office and assigned at the Headquarters Cebu City Police.

He also served five years at the PNP Special Action Force (Air Unit, Human Resource Doctrine and Development and Rapid Deployment Battalion).

Casurao said the 259 passers represent 90.56 percent of the 286 police officials who underwent the validation interview, the second and final phase of the Pese eligibility process.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 Francis S. Lagniton, Issue Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

News DAVAO GAINS LITERACY TROPHY

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera

STOP RIGHT NOW. Relatives and friends of political detainees and human rights victims staged a protest rally at the foot of Chino Roces Bridge near Malacañang Palace in observance of the International Human Rights Day on Saturday. Ey Acasio

‘KILLING PEOPLE WON’T SOLVE DRUGS’

By Vito Barcelo

A

CATHOLIC bishop expressed fear that more suspected drug pushers and users would be killed—and that most of the victims are likely to be poor—as the government steps up the war against illegal drugs, which has already claimed over 5,000 lives.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said stopping the drug trade by killing people “will not resolve the problem,” and stressed that thousands of lives had been lost to the state’s war against drugs just few months into Duterte’s term “and yet, illegal drugs continue to flourish.”

With the world celebrating International Human Rights Day yesterday, party-list lawmakers chimed in with Pabillo’s call in separate events.

Rep. Antonio Tinio and Rep. France Castro of the ACT Teachers Party-List joined teachers, Lakbayanis from Visayas, and others in a Peace Forum at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the immersion in the Kampuhan of the Lakbayanis in PUP. The contingent made a caravan from PUP to Philippine Normal University, Liwasang Bonifacio, and then to Mendiola to call for action on

pressing human rights issues.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate also used the occasion to urge President Rodrigo Duterte to “reject the advice of the hawkish elements” in his administration and instead“listen to voices of reason and compassion”in his Cabinet.

Zarate said that of late, Duterte’s “pro-people pronouncements are slowly being overshadowed by numerous incidents pointing to the disregard of human rights.”

“The drug trade continues to thrive,” Bishop Pabillo said, “despite the bloody campaign. Those who suffer are mostly helpless and poor people.”

“The culture of death in the country is creeping,” the prelate added.

He said that the House Committee on Justice approved the reimposition of the death penalty and this “would only allow more to suffer from death.”

A Catholic priest, Fr. Ranhilio Aquino-

Callangan, expressed his opposition to the restoration of capital punishment in a Facebook post on December 2.

“There is a fundamental reason that the death penalty should not be imposed… No fact-finding proceeding is ever infallible, and when you punish with death you must be infallible,” Aquino-Callangan said.

The incidents Zarate cited as examples are the “revisionist rehabilitation of a grave human rights violator like the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his sneaky burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, (and) the threat of suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.

He also mentioned “the still increasing militarization of the countryside like in Masbate, Bulacan and Mindanao, the appointment of Gen. Eduardo Año as the AFP chief of staff, the push for the reimposition of the death penalty and the backtracking in the release of political prisoners.”

“I hope that President Duterte would listen more to his Cabinet members and advisers that are more attuned to the real interest of the masses and shun those who represent the interests of the oligarchs and the militarists,” Zarate said.

“Rightist policies, as in the past, will only isolate the government

from most Filipino people,” he added, urging the President to “reverse this alarming trend.”

The ACT lawmakers echoed Zarate, calling on the government “to respect the basic human rights of the people, including the demand of government employees—the bulk of whom are public school teachers—for decent salaries.”

“We urge the President to consider the present dire economic conditions of our teachers whose take-home pay is insufficient to meet the daily needs of their families,” Tinio and Castro said.

“They end up taking out loans from Government Service Insurance System, banks, and worse, private lenders who bleed them out with usurious loans.”

The lawmakers also demanded for the immediate release of more than 400 political prisoners, including teachers and teacher-organizers Amelia Pond and Dominciano Muya of Davao, Rhea Pareja of Quezon, Rene Boy Abiva, an organizer for the Cagayan Valley chapter of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).

“They were arrested and detained as criminals but the only acts they are guilty of are serving the poor and marginalized, and arousing, organizing, and mobilizing them to struggle for their basic human rights,” Castro said.

‘UNSOUND’ SIN TAX HOUSE MEASURES

By John Paolo Bencito

“They are disregarding the major public health gains of the tobacco tax reforms enA REGIONAL health group on Saturday acted in 2012, [with] some Philippine legislaraised alarm over the “economically un- tors deciding to promote tobacco industry sound” proposals in Congress to amend the interests rather than protect public health,”Dr. Sin Tax Law that has yet to mature next year, Ulysses Dorotheo of SEATCA added.

House Bill 4144 was approved on second saying the proposed amendments would only “promote tobacco industry interests” reading only two days after the House Ways and disregard major public health gains of and Means Committee chaired by Rep. Dakila Cua approved it, without considering the tobacco tax reforms in the country.

House Bill 4144 “is economically unsound the alternative House Bill 4575.

Filed by ABS Party-list Rep. Eugene because two tiers will be more difficult for the government to administer than a unitary rate, Michael de Vera and supported by the and tobacco companies will make cheaper Northern Luzon bloc—a region depencigarettes to avoid paying more taxes,” said dent on tobacco farming—HB 4144 seeks Sophapan Ratanachena, tobacco tax pro- to retain the current two-tier excise tax gram manager of the Southeast Asia Tobacco structure for cigarettes, increasing the tax Control Alliance. “As a result, more people will on cheaper brands to P32 a pack and P36 for smoke and die from smoking. Only the to- high-end brands instead of the unitary tax rate that should come into effect on January bacco companies will benefit.”

SEATCA also accused lawmakers of “dis- 1 as mandated by the Sin Tax Reform Law regarding major public health gains” when or Republic Act 10351.

The proposal also includes an annual Congress decided to “railroad” to second reading HB 4144, which sought to discard increase of five percent on these rates as the unitary tax imposing a 30-peso excise against the current sin tax on tobacco that tax on all brands slated for January 2017 prescribes an annual four-percent adjustment thereafter. and opted for higher tax impositions.

LIGHT FIELD. Nuvali in Sta. Rosa, Laguna transforms a field into a first-of-its kind holiday destination with the launch of “Magical Field of Lights,” the first light and sounds show in Ayala Land’s largest sustainable estate. Teddy Pelaez

DAVAO CITY—The National Literacy Coordinating Council has bestowed the 2016 Special Award for Excellence in Literacy to Davao City after the local government successfully sustained its impressive record in providing quality education to the public.

City Administrator Zuleika T. Lopez received the award on Thursday in a ceremony in Quezon City attended by top education officials.

Lopez said the award recognized the city’s efforts “in making sure that Dabawenyos are not only equipped with basic literacy and numeracy skills, but that there is an empowering environment that will allow them to learn.”

As of last year, the city had a 99-percent literacy rate for children aged 10 years and above, said Loraida Fabro of the City Planning and Development Office.

Davao City received the Hall of Fame Award for its education programs in 2013, after dominating other local government units in the effective implementation of literacy programs in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

Lopez said the award was “the cherry on top of the cake, as it reinforces the Hall of Fame Award you bestowed on us in 2013 and it will strengthen our resolve to improve our current literacy effort for our people, especially as education is among the 10-point agenda of the City Government.”

Davao City, the only contender for the 2016 Special Award of Excellence in Literacy, was assessed by NLCC earlier this year, including an examination of the continued application of the literacy programs and their impact on the public.

Sr. Roseanne Malilin, chairman of the NLCC Board of Judges, noted the service excellence award is the topmost honor “singly recommended for contenders who have been bestowed the Hall of Fame Award.”

Davao City is the only qualified city in the Philippines in the past 10 years. It has been implementing education programs in urban and rural communities—benefiting lumad, Muslims, children, mothers, persons with disabilities, children of prostituted women, and the youth.

MAKATI REWARDS CLEANEST BARANGAYS

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Makati city government named this year’s cleanest and greenest local government office units in the city.

In the barangay category, Barangay San Lorenzo won first place in Cluster I, followed by Bel-Air and Forbes Park in second and third, respectively. Barangay Guadalupe Viejo topped Cluster 2, followed by San Antonio and Pembo. Barangay Southside led Cluster 3, followed

by San Isidro and La Paz. In Cluster 4, Barangay Pinagkaisahan won first place, followed by Kasilawan and Carmona.

The 33 barangays and villages were grouped into clusters according to economic status and area size.

In the public-school category, Maximo Estrella Elementary School was named the city’s cleanest and greenest school in District 1. La Paz Elementary School was second, and Makati Elementary School placed third. In District 2, Makati Science High School placed first, followed by Pitogo Elementary School and Comembo Elementary School.

The cleanest and greenest health center was Guadalupe Viejo Health Center, followed by Cembo Health Center and East Rembo Health Center in second and third.

In the fire sub-station category, Station 6 in Valenzuela won the first prize, Station 10 in Comembo was second and Station 9 in Tejeros was third.

Police Station 5 in San Lorenzo bagged first in the Police Community Precinct category, followed by PCP 7 in Guadalupe Nuevo and PCP 9 in Comembo.

“I would like to commend all the winners of this year’s search. The city government greatly values your efforts and contributions to the continued success of this project,” said Mayor Abigail Binay during the awarding at the Makati City Hall on Thursday.

B1

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016

Opinion

Adelle Chua, Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE

BOOKSGIVING: LET’S START A TRADITION OF GIFTING BOOKS

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A TIME TO RECEIVE

“ICELANDERS have a beautiful tradition of giving books to each other on Christmas Eve and then spending the night reading.” As Katherine Martinko goes on to relate in an article for Treehugger, this tradition is the reason for the timing of the publication of books in that bookloving nation of less than 350,000 people. (This is roughly the population of Mandaluyong City in 2010.)

Most books are released in Iceland from September to December, a time called Jolabokaflod—Christmas Book Flood. The holiday book season begins with the release of the Bokatidindi, a catalog of the year’s new books, a copy of which is mailed by the Iceland Publishers Association to each household for free.

“Booksgiving,” as I’ll dub their lovely custom, would be wonderful to adopt as a tradition for our own families. Like Santa Claus, start with making a list and checking it twice. It’s easy if your recipients already love books; all you have to do is ask them what they want to read next.

For those who aren’t quite there yet, they might enjoy graphic novels or comic books, the gateway to reading for many people. For children, consider Dr. Seuss books—they are a cultural touchstone and thus a “must-read,” as well as books on Filipino myths and legends. Other people might prefer magazine subscriptions, the latest “Daily Bread,” a cookbook, or a fashion and beauty book. The thing is to give something to read.

There are many bookstore sales this season, so take advantage of those cut-prices. Pre-loved and remaindered books such as those from Booksale and online used-book sellers are affordable options, and you are more likely to find art, crafts, and coffeetable books there at a huge bargain.

Don’t hesitate to give away favorites from your own shelves, if you are downsizing; an appreciative recipient will love the book all the more because it was your own.

Here are eight suggestions of books from the rich trove of Philippine writings: Fiction and Poetry: 1) The Music Child and the Mahjong Queen by Alfred A. Yuson: An earlier manuscript entitled “The Music Child” was shortlisted for the Man Asia Literary Prize in 2008. In Yuson’s third novel, he pushes the boundaries of realism yet again and blurs the genres of prose and poetry to create another literary gem.

2) Troya: 12 Kuwento by Joselito de los Reyes: A collection of a dozen stories on a chess theme that explores topics of corruption and the abuse of power.

3) Of That Other Country We Now Speak by Charlson Ong: Short stories that “inhabit a world fraying at the seams, morally adrift…Here we find the gritty realism of crime fiction as well as the enchantment of myth.”

4) Lyrical Objec ts: New and Selected Poems by Marne Kilates: A collection of 60 poems written over the three months’ before the poet’s 60th birthday. According to literary critic Gemino H. Abad, “Marne’s closest rival in poetry is only himself.”

Non-Fiction: 1) To Remember to Remember:

A

GRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel Piñol was reported as returning a watch worth P450,000, given to him as a Christmas present. The story was circulated well over the internet; it hailed Piñol’s gesture as one other government officials should imitate and claimed the Duterte administration was winning the war on corruption.

It might have been jarring if the secretary had accepted the gift and wore it proudly on his wrist. Then again, one gesture does not make a habit, and it would be interesting to see how other government officials from other agencies draw lines on this matter.

As it is, gift-giving is a big thing in the Philippines during the holidays. It is part of our culture to bring or send tokens, even to just professional acquaintances whom we do not really know.

For a people so steeped in personal relationships, refusing or returning gifts may be deemed offensive, no matter the existence of rules and guidelines that identify which is acceptable—and which is not.

This brings us back to gray areas, and what we are willing to tolerate.

The truth is, the issue is not about gifts, who they are from

or how much they cost. What lies at the core is the thinking that one may be beholden to another person who does favors or gives presents.

Government officials, by virtue of their jobs, should be careful about what they accept, whether or not they know the senders, deal with them, or are even friends with them. It’s an issue of ethics, one that is difficult to regulate or suggest.

Being careful not to hurt the feelings of others, especially those who have been nice or gracious to us, is a distinctly Filipino trait. We must remember though that rejecting gifts is not a rejection of the friendship of the people they are from. It is just a shunning of the dangerous possibilities these gifts might lead to.

12-04-16

Turn to B2

HOLIDAY THOUGHTS LONG STORY SHORT ADELLE CHUA

IT IS 14 days before Christmas and in my home there is no sign of the holidays. No wreath on the door, no dancing lights, no tree. Certainly no trite carols on loop.

Last year we purchased a nine-foot tree and had a fairly happy time setting it up, engaging even the children’s friends. But now that the novelty of moving into a new place had worn off, I

Who’s feeling Christmassy yet?

am back to the usual holiday lethargy— wishing, instead, that the season were over and that everything would get back to normal, whatever normal may mean. Now I don’t even know where I stored all the décor after I had put them away.

I have plenty of reasons to feel this way.

First is the sorr y state of transportation. Getting from one place to another is oppressive as it is at any time of the year and at any time of day.

Everything gets magnified tenfold in December. For a good 10-11 kilometer distance, one has to set aside a good two hours one way. It’s decidedly longer Turn to B2

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B2

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

HOLIDAY..

From B1

for those who take buses or trains. What alternatives do you have? Boorish cab drivers who demand extra payment before they consider taking you in and who have no qualms turning you away when you are not headed in the direction they are taking. You turn to either Grab or Uber--but the surges, even late at night when you’ve killed time at the office and found ways to be productive, or binge watch your favorite series, can still make you cry.

Second is the pressure to give presents. I do not mean the people who are truly close to us, to whom we want to give tokens of friendship or love or gratitude, and who will definitely feel happy and appreciated with a well-thought-out gift. I mean instead the mad rush to the malls just picking up something—anything—because turning up empty-handed does not help spread the holiday cheer.

Third, the expenses. This may not be a problem for those used to spending without thinking about the flip side: generating revenues. It is as if there is an exhortation to mankind to spend on food, on clothes, on big-ticket acquisitions. Perhaps there is the cushion of a bonus—for some. Woe to the few who do not know whether their employers would be human or compassionate enough to release their salaries, much less their 13th month pay, on time.

Four th is the contrived environment of cheer. Parties and reunions are being scheduled left and right. Food is consumed in copious, conspicuous amounts.

Pe o p l e g o to m a l l s e ve n w h e n they have nothing to do there.

See people they don’t even feel like seeing. Wear their jaws out smiling for photos. Spend thousands on their hair or use that insanely expensive bag for when they meet up with people they don’t care about but want to impress.

All these, in the backdrop of hypocrisy and duplicity and all the chilling things happening amidst us these days.

So who’s feeling Christmassy yet? *** Now the New Year—well that is a different story altogether.

I have always loved the New Year holidays. The kids and I are not big on the noise but we appreciate a good vantage point from where we can observe the fireworks from all parts of the city. I wrote about this in my New Year piece, “Charmed,” earlier this year (http://manilastandardtoday.com/ opinion/columns/chasing-happy-byadelle-chua/195845/charmed.html).

There is something about fireworks— how the burst of colors lights up the sky and serves as backdrop for the introspection one should be having as the last few minutes of the old year pass.

The thought of crossing over from one year to another contains a significance that trumps all other reasons for celebrating. In the past 12 months, we might have been naive, foolish, overbearing, lazy, misguided, arrogant, foolish. We might have encountered storms that, as I wrote a few weeks back, shook us to our core.

These may have made us doubt our worth, become terrified of trusting others, question whether life is fair and whether the future is still worth being hopeful about.

The answer to the last question—a resounding yes.

We d o s h u n t ra d i t i o n a n d superstition on New Year’s Eve. For instance, why buy 12 varieties of round fruit or splurge in an insane amount of food the family won’t be able to finish? Why wave a half-full piggy bank into the air while stashing none into your real savings account?

Why create a list of resolutions and then fall back into the same old patterns after just a few weeks?

What we—well, at least I—embrace is the opportunity to begin all over again without discarding the old. In each area of your life – career, family, relationships, friendships, finances, what were the accomplishments and, most importantly, what were the failures? Why were there failures? Look inwards and examine your strengths and vulnerabilities. Look outside and anticipate threats while identifying opportunities. And then, deliberately and realistically, under each area, create a vision of yourself by the end of next year, in three years, in 10. What is the plan—and more importantly, how does one get to that?

It is also important to recognize the importance of baby steps. We may not shed our old selves drastically, but what is crucial is that we are never stuck in the place we were in yesterday.

These days it is so easy to drown in the exuberance. Let’s try not to lose our heads, this season and onwards. adellechua@gmail.com

THE COSMIC CALENDAR

By Pecier Decierdo IN A few weeks time, we are going to change our calendars. Calendar years and other human attempts to measure, and sometimes impose, regularity into the celestial and seasonal cycles, are very interesting in their own right. I will write about what really makes up a year soon enough. But now, we will be using the calendar as a tool for understanding the time scale of the universe.

It is difficult to appreciate the depths of the time that has been.

When described in millions or billions of years, our brain just registers it as numbers. So let’s talk about them in terms other than numbers.

Before we do, let’s look at the numbers first. The oldest human civilizations flourished less than 10,000 years ago. Humans have been walking the Earth for around 200,000 years.

The non-avian dinosaurs went extinct around 65 million years ago. The Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, around the same time as the Sun. The universe is 13.8 billion years old.

Now that we have the millions and billions out the way, let’s talk about deep time some other way.

One famous exposition of the age

of the universe is through the Comic Calendar, a comparison between the history of the cosmos and the calendars we are all familiar with.

The concept was popularized by Carl Sagan in his book The Dragons of Eden and later in his series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. More recently, Neil deGrasse Tyson updated the calendar in the reboot of Cosmos.

In the cosmic calendar, the big bang happens at the stroke of midnight in New Year’s Day, the very beginning of our cosmic year. In this metaphorical year, the first stars are born on January 13. These stars and the others that formed after them joined to form the first galaxies on January 16. Our own Milky Way Galaxy, however, formed much later, on March 15. The Sun and Earth formed even later on September 1.

And now we’re halfway past the year and we haven’t gotten to life yet.

We think life couldn’t form on the early Earth. It was made of molten rock and was too hot. The first living things had to wait for Earth to cool down.

The oldest known rocks formed on September 16 of the Cosmic Calendar.

Life appears on September 28.

Life quickly got busy. By October

2, billions of the ancestors of today’s algae started turning sunlight and carbon dioxide to food and oxygen.

Photosynthesis ensues. By October 26, life has made its first major mark: the ox ygen levels in the atmosphere became significantly higher. The air we breathe today is a legacy of that era in time. Before then, the Earth’s atmosphere would have killed us.

For the rest of the Cosmic October, the only living organisms on Earth are single-celled life. These cells did not even have complex compartments in them. The compartments were “invented” on November 9. Sexual reproduction was “invented” on November 29. And still throughout this Cosmic November only singlecelled life existed on Earth.

The first multi-cellular life arose on December 5. By December 14, there were already simple animals, and by December 17 there were fish.

By the way, all this time life was only found in the sea. Plants, animals, and fungi started moving to land only on December 18. The dinosaurs begin their reign on the eve of Christmas, December 24. The first flowers bloomed on December

28. The dinosaurs end their reign on December 30.

With many of the dinosaurs gone, mammals start to flourish. By around 6 a.m. of New Year’s Eve the first apes appear. The apes became a diverse group for the rest of the day. By 9 p.m., the ancestors of humans and that of chimpanzees parted ways.

The first modern humans appear at 11:52 p.m. For more than 95 percent of our species’ existence, we lived as hunter-gatherers. Of the eight minutes remaining before the end of our year, the use of agriculture and civilization accounts for less than 5 percent. That means all of human history accounts for only the last 20 seconds of the cosmic calendar.

Personally, I find deep comfort in the depth of cosmic time. Just think about that. Entire eras of human history, which to us seem long and cosmically relevant, represent a tiny fraction of 20 seconds in an entire year. As you look back on the year that has been, and look forward on the year to come, try to think of the cosmic calendar. We all need a little cosmic perspective this New Year.

Decierdo is resident astronomer and physicist for The Mind Museum.

FACES OF PYONGYANG

North Korean kids walk by portraits of the late leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. AFP

By Ed Jones PYONGYANG—Ask anyone to conjure up an image of North Korea and it would probably be of a mass military parade, with thousands of faces and feet moving in perfect sync.

Or it might be of a fleeting image captured surreptitiously from the window of a bus as unsuspecting subjects go about their day.

I have been traveling to North Korea since 2012 and both these scenarios feature regularly in the photos that I transmit when on assignment there, largely because the well-known limitations placed on visiting foreign media severely limit any alternatives.

But since AFP formally opened a bureau in Pyongyang in September 2016, I’ve been thinking of ways to try to change that.

Access to people is an important

BOOKSGIVING...

From B1 Reflections on the Literary Memoirs of Filipino Women by Cristina PantojaHildalgo: An in-depth analysis of the memoirs of a handful of Filipino women writers that narrate lived experience across generations and different locations and backgrounds.

2) The Camino Real to Freedom and Other Notes on Philippine History and Culture by Jose Victor Torres:

facet of my photography. But it can be something of a challenge in North Korea. Approaching people on the street for interviews or taking candid photos outside of designated areas is generally frowned upon.

Requests to speak to or take photos of specific people generally need to be made through the two local AFP staff who accompany us at all times, and their efforts to secure permission meet with varying results.

I was keen to find a project that would produce interesting photos, without compromising journalistic integrity, and be a comfortable way of working for all involved.

The idea of a portrait series seemed a good solution that would involve the subjects themselves—a difficult proposition in North Korea where there is an inherent suspicion of foreign media.

As a photographer, I am driven by interactions with people, and for some reason—a lack of imagination perhaps—my pictures suffer without them. With a portrait series, I saw a way to create that interaction.

My video colleague and I decided on a routine whereby he would also shoot a short full-length video portrait as well as a close-up of the same subject reciting their name and occupation. It was important to capture the portraits as quickly as possible to retain an element of spontaneity, and the subjects were told where to stand, but not how to pose.

After the first few attempts, our local staff seemed increasingly taken by the whole idea and became more confident about approaching subjects, who were generally happy to participate. Initially we approached people who we felt were more likely

to agree to have their photos taken, such as tour guides at the various monuments around Pyongyang that are easy to visit.

But we were quickly able to expand our approach to include others such as a young girl rollerblading on a public square followed by a ginseng farmer near Kaesong, and a soldier at Panmunjom, near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

On many occasions it was not possible to gather more information about our subjects. Some were apprehensive about giving their names, while others were reluctant to state their occupation.

But despite the speed with which these portraits were taken and the reticence of most of those who agreed to pose, there was still a moment of intimacy involved—however brief— that felt authentic and unguarded.

AFP

“History and culture,” says Torres, “form a major part of who we are as Filipinos.

And when we forget this…then we open ourselves to ridicule from other countries… Maybe it is because we have failed to show the world who we are as a people…We do not know our history, we had forgotten our past.”

3) Indie Cinema at mga sanaysay sa topograpiya ng pelikula ng Filipinos

by Rolando Tolentino: A collection of essays by a film and communication expert on independent films in the country: how are they made, who their

audience is, and what their future is likely to be.

4) The Chief is in the House: My Little Journal of Angst and Peeves by Joel Pablo Salud: 50 humorous pieces by a seasoned editor and essayist, covering a wide range of topics from the personal to the planetary.

These are only a few selections from an encouragingly long list of books by Filipino authors, among them Fictionary, my collection of short stories released last month.

Imagine the recipient of your

book curling up with one you picked especially for them, reading with a cup of hot chocolate and plate of warm ensaymada by their side, feeding both their brain and belly.

Whatever your book choices may be, let’s make Booksgiving happen this Christmas and spread the love of reading among our beloveds!

Dr. Ortuoste is a California-based writer. Follow her on Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Instagram: @jensdecember

World

Manila

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B3

TODAY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PENTAGON CHIEF: 200 MORE US TROOPS FOR SYRIA DUBAI—Washington will send another 200 troops to Syria to help an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters seize the Islamic State group bastion of Raqa, Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Saturday.

“I can tell you today that the United States will deploy approximately 200 additional US forces in Syria,” Carter told Gulf policymakers in the Bahraini capital Manama.

They will complement 300 American special forces already in Syria to assist US-backed Kurdish-Arab fighters who in recent weeks began their offensive on Raqa. That operation coincides with a US-backed Iraqi effort to retake Mosul.

The two cities are the last major urban centres under IS control after the jihadists suffered a string of territorial losses in Iraq and Syria over the past year.

Carter told the Manama Dialogue security forum that the troop reinforcements will include bomb disposal experts and trainers as well as special forces.

Car bombs and elaborate networks of booby traps and mines have been the jihadists’ favoured weapons as they battle to defend what remains of the “caliphate” they declared across Iraq and Syria in 2012.

“We’re now helping tens of thousands of local Syrian forces to isolate Raqa,” from which they are only about 25 kilometres (15 miles), he said. AFP

COURT FREEZES ASSETS OF RIO’S MAYOR RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – A court in Brazil ordered assets belonging to Rio de Janeiro mayor’s frozen over the weekend after a company that built a golf course for the August Olympic Games never paid a required tax.

Rio’s state court opened an inquiry in March 2016 into whether the mayor had granted “excessive” and “unjustified” benefits to Fiori Empreendimentos, which never paid an environmental impact fee of 1.8 million reais ($533,000).

Mayor Eduardo Paes said he would appeal the court ruling, which saw up to 181,000 reais of his assets frozen.

“Contrary to what the prosecution claims, the city council of Rio demanded... that Fiori Empreendimentos Imobiliarios pay the tax so that authorization could be granted for it to remove exotic vegetation” on the nature reserve where the course was built, the mayor’s office said in a press release, providing documents supporting its claims. However, the company has never paid the tax.

The golf course, which cost $19 million, was constructed in the city’s west.

There are two other private golf courses in Rio which did not meet standards to host Olympic golf competitions.

Paes’ term in office concludes at the end of the year. He will be replaced by Marcelo Crivella from the socially conservative Brazilian Republican Party (PRB), who won the mayoral race in October municipal elections. AFP

A family, survivors of the magnitude 6.4 earthquake walk through the entrance of refugee’s tent in Pidie Jaya, Aceh province. Every house in the village was flattened when a 6.5-magnitude quake tore through Aceh province in Indonesia’s west, killing more than 100 people. AFP

MEXICO QUIETLY MARKS 10 YEARS OF DRUG WAR

M

EXICO CITY—Ten years after Mexican troops were unleashed against drug cartels, the country will mark the anniversary without fanfare on Sunday, with murders rising again and the military eager to return to barracks.

President Enrique Peña Nieto, who inherited the drug war when he took office in December 2012, has promised his countrymen and women a “Mexico in peace.”

His government has created a new federal police force and imprisoned or killed several drug kingpins, but Peña Nieto has kept troops on the ground despite allegations of abuses and criticism

from human rights groups.

The administration has no events planned to commemorate the controversial deployment that was launched by his predecessor, Felipe Calderon, on December 11, 2006.

Ten days after taking office, Calderon deployed some 5,000 troops to his western home state of Michoacan – the start of a militarized campaign against drug trafficking.

Calderon’s six-year term was marked by a surge in murders, rising from 10,253 in 2007 to a peak of 22,852 in 2011.

The figure dropped in the first two years of Peña Nieto’s presidency, only to rise again in 2015.

Although murders remain well under the worst years of Calderon’s presidency, there were 17,063 homicides in the first 10 months of 2016, already surpassing last year’s 12-month total of 17,034.

Much of the bloodshed is blamed on ultra-violent turf wars between drug gangs.

The government has captured major fugitives, such as the Sinaloa drug cartel’s powerful leader, Joa-

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES PROVINCE OF BATAAN MUNICIPALITY OF LIMAY INVITATION TO BID The Bids and Awards Committee of the Municipality of Limay through the GENERAL FUND Budget CY2016 invites registered companies/service providers to apply for eligibility and if found to be eligible to bid, hereunder the projects/contracts. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

Name of Project/Contract

IMF CHIEF ON TRIAL OVER TYCOON CASE Paris—IMF chief Christine Lagarde goes on trial in France on Monday over a massive state payout to a flamboyant tycoon when she was finance minister in a case that risks tarnishing her stellar career.

Lagarde denies the charges of negligence, arguing she was acting “in the state’s interest” in making the payment to Bernard Tapie, the former owner of sportswear giant Adidas and Olympique Marseille football club.

If found guilty, Lagarde could receive a one-year prison sentence and a 15,000 euro ($15,900) fine.

Whatever the outcome, the case risks damaging the image of 60-year-old Lagarde, a former corporate lawyer who progressed through the finance ministry to her current role as one of the world’s most powerful women.

The case also threatens the credibility of the International Monetary Fund, whose last three managing directors have faced trial.

Lagarde, who was named to a second term in February this year, has received the full backing of the IMF over the case.

She will be tried by the Court of Justice of the Republic, a tribunal that hears cases against ministers accused of wrongdoing in the discharge of their duties. AFP

quin “El Chapo” Guzman.

But the weakening of major drug cartels such as the Beltran Leyva, Zetas, Gulf and Knights Templar has led to the emergence of smaller gangs that seek to diversify their business through kidnappings and extortion.

“The war has become much more complex. The level of death has escalated,”Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told AFP. The drug cartels have terrorized the population by leaving the decapitated bodies of their rivals on roadsides or hanging them on bridges, while mass graves are regularly found in the countryside.

AFP

1

2

Mechanical & Electrical Works for Limay Municipal Building Supply and Installation of Public Address & BGM System, L.E.D. Wall System, and Portable Sound Reinforcement System

Location

Sources of FUNDS

Duration

Approved Budget Cost(ABC)

Cost of Bid Doc’s.

Limay, Bataan

GEN FUND

3 Months

13,800,00.00

25,000.00

Limay, Bataan

GEN FUND

1 Month

18,500,000.00

25,000.00

Bidders should have completed, within two previous years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

A woman holds a placard reading “Arrest Park Geun-Hye” during a small rally in central Seoul following the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye. AFP

SOKOR PROTESTS TAKE ON CELEBRATORY MOOD AFTER PARK OUSTER SEOUL—A day after South Korean lawmakers successfully impeached scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye, hundreds of thousands of people were expected to take to the streets of Seoul on Saturday for a scheduled protest turned celebration.

For the seventh straight week, the capital braced for one of the huge candle-lit rallies that have become the signature of a mass movement aimed at removing the deeply unpopular Park from office.

Although the national assembly voted to strip Park of her executive powers on Friday, activists say they intend to keep up the pressure with the impeachment still requiring final approval from the Constitutional Court – a process that could take months.

And many are adamant that the president should resign immediately and face criminal prosecution. Until the court rules, Park’s au-

thority is only suspended and she retains the title of president and the immunity from prosecution that goes with it.

And she still has her supporters, many of them elderly voters who remain steadfast admirers of her father, the late military dictator Park Chung-Hee – credited as the architect of the South’s economic transformation but vilified as an authoritarian rights abuser.

A large portrait of a young Park with her father formed the centrepiece of pro-Park rally in Seoul on Saturday morning that drew around 15,000 people.

Waving national flags, they carried banners that read: “President Park, Don’t Cry” and “Nullify impeachment.”

“When the (anti-Park) protestors stage rallies, they don’t carry any national flags. This is because they are all pro-North Korea leftists,” said Kim Sa-Rang, a 78-year-old church pastor. AFP

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a nondiscretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from BAC OFFICE, Limay Municipal Building, National Road, Brgy. Townsite, Limay, Bataan at the given address during office hours, 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders starting on December 13 to December 20, 2016 from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Document.

The Bids and Awards Committee will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on December 13, 2016, 2:00P.M.. at Limay Municipal Building, which shall be open to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before 1:00P.M., December 26, 2016. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the Bid Documents. Bid opening shall be on 2:00P.M., December 26, 2016 at Limay Municipal Building. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Submission of Class “A” documents and Financial Statements at least seven (7) calendar days and the Technical Documents (completed/on-going projects) at least fifteen (10) calendar days before the deadline for the submission or opening of bids.

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Municipality of Limay reserves the right to accept or deny any bid, to annul bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, refer to: RAQUEL A. LEONGSON BACOFFICE Tel. No. : 613-8011 (SGD.) ROMARIO C. PANANGUI BAC – Chairman (M S-D E C . 11, 2016)

B4

Sports

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 Riera U. Mallari, Editor / Reuel Vidal, Issue Editor sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

BAGUIO CITY HONORS ONE TITLIST FOLAYANG Pocari’s Myla Pablo (18) tries a drop shot against Customs’ Thai setter Nattanicha Jaisaen (13) during Game Two of their Shakey’s V-League Reinforced Conference title clash at the Philsports Arena.

PABLO CONTRACT CHANGES THE GAME ONE Championship Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang leads the parade held in his honor which started at Luneta Hill Drive of SM City Baguio, traversed Session Road and ended at the Baguio City Hall grounds. Thousands lined the route along Session Road to see and cheer for their local hero.

By Reuel Vidal

B

AGUIO CITY—Thousands of residents of this city atop the mountain turned out to show their love and appreciation for local hero ONE Championship Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang with a parade and ceremonies at the Baguio City Hall last Friday, December 9.

Eighth World Wushu Championship, 9th Asian Wushu Championship and 8th Sanda World Cup gold medalist Divine Wally was likewise honored.

The parade started along Luneta Hill Drive of SM City Baguio, wound down Session Road and ended at the Baguio City Hall grounds. Thousands of Baguio residents lined the route to cheer, shout and wave at their heroes.

Folayang, who was in traditional Igorot warrior gear complete with “bahag” or g-string, expressed his appreciation for the show of favor and affection by the people of Baguio.

“I didn’t expect this kind of reception. I am very grateful for their love and support. They are part of my long and difficult journey. They were with me during my first fights. I lost some fights but they remained at my side. It’s that way anyway. Heroes may lose early but always win in the end,” said Folayang.

The ONE Championship title holder said that everyone in Baguio is a winner because a new generation of heroes will surely follow in their footsteps.

“I expect that many more fighters will emerge.

There will be many more fighters in Baguio who will become champions. This legacy of winning will not stop with us but will continue through the

younger generation,” said Folayang.

He added that the work is not yet done and that there are more challenges to overcome.

“While the journey to the championship was difficult I know that to stay a champion will be even harder. I need to be a more responsible and be a good steward of this responsibility given by God. I just pray for the grace to be able to be a good role model and live up to this responsibility,” said Folayang.

Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan said Folayang is a perfect example of individuals who sacrifice to develop their God-given.

“This is proof that Baguio and the Cordilleras can also be competitive at the global stage. The people didn’t mind the traffic created by the parade. They are very happy to meet their heroes live and in person. This is just the beginning and not the end. I know that many more sporting heroes will follow in their footsteps,” said Mayor Domogan.

University of Cordilleras Dean of Office of Student Affairs and Services Aloysius Mapalo said Folayang will now serve as inspiration for other students as well as alumni of UC. “He (Folayang) started as student-athlete in Wushu and persevered in the sport. Everyone at UC is proud of what he has accomplished. He becomes a role model for all students and students athletes alike. He showed that hard work and sacrifice will be rewarded,” said Mapalo.

Folayang won the ONE Championship Lightweight World Championship in Singapore last month in front of 12,000 screaming fans inside the Singapore Stadium at the One Championship— Defending Honor.

Folayang scored the crushing victory early in the third round after barely surviving Aoki’s takedowns and submission attempts during the first two rounds.

As the third started Aoki swallowed a flying knee while lunging forward to attempt another

ONE Championship Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang, wearing traditional Igorot warrior gear, receives a plaque of appreciation from Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan, who also wore a ‘bahag.’ Beside them are Team Lakay coach Mark Sangiao (right) and other Baguio City hall officials.

takedown. He grabbed Folayang instinctively but the Filipino fighter pushed him aside.

Folayang pinned Aoki to the cage and delivered another vicious knee. Aoki turned his back and assumed a fetal position while Folayang rained down vicious blows to the side of his head which forced Referee Yuji Shimada to halt the bout.

It was a spectacular finish and the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice by Folayang.

INTAL DRIVES FUEL MASTERS

THE Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters (2 wins, 1 loss) find themselves tied in the standings at the unlikely spot of second place behind just the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters (3-1) and it’s largely because of the mature play displayed by their main man JC Intal.

The 2016-2017 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup is actually one of the most competitive conferences in years. The teams are all bunched up in the standings.

Just behind the leagueleading Elasto Painters and tied with the Fuel Masters are the Meralco Bolts (2-1), the San Miguel Beermen (2-1), the GlobalPort Batang

Pier (2-1), TNT KaTropa (2-2), the Blackwater Elite (2-2) and the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel (1-1).

The other teams include the Alaska Aces (1-2), the NLEX Road Warriors (1-2), the Star Hotshots (1-2) and the Mahindra Floodbuster (1-3).

The Fuel Masters will need Intal to continue playing with maturity and poise if they hope to be competitive this conference.

There has never been a question about Intal’s skills as a basketball player. He has length, he has size, he can jump out of the gym or score from anywhere on the court.

But he has always been “gig-

il” when inside the court and has never played with poise or maturity... until now.

After losing their first game the resurgent Fuel Masters tallied back-to-back victories to climb into contention this conference.

Intal scored five of his team-high 22 points in the final minute of the game to help Phoenix complete a surprise 92-85 victory over defending Philippine Cup champion San Miguel Beer in Antipolo last week.

Phoenix followed up that victory with another win four days later after the 6’4” Intal knocked down 24 points and grabbed seven

rebounds as the Fuel Masters breezed past winless Mahindra Floodbuster, 114-104.

The 33-year-old Intal averaged 23.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists to earn the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period of Nov. 29-Dec. 4.

Despite his physical tools Intal has been a PBA journeyman at best.

He was drafted fourth overall by the Air21 Express in the 2007 PBA draft. He joined the Barangay Ginebra Kings in 2009. Playing behind established stars Mark Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand Intal became at best a reliable role player.

Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters star player JC Intal (7) protects the basketball against San Miguel Beer defender Chris Ross.

IT finally happened.

Philippine women’s volleyball officially gained its first millionaire player after Myla Pablo inked a P4.6 million contract with Shakey’s V-League squad Pocari Sweat.

The 5’9” former National University open spiker committed to the Lady Warriors for five years. She also received a brand-new Hyundai Accent as a signing bonus.

This changes everything not just for volleyball but for women’s sport in the Philippines.

Filipinas can now pursue careers as professional athletes much like their male counterparts in the Philippine Basketball Association and the United Football League as well as the Azkals in the Philippine national team.

Pablo, 23 is a product of National University where she took up Marketing Management.

Pablo, playing for the NU Lady Bulldogs, was named Best Spiker in the UAAP Season 75. She was also chosen Best Spiker in the 2013 Shakeys V-League Season 10 when the NU Lady Bulldogs won the league championship for the first time.

She later won Finals Most Valuable Player during the 2015 Shakeys V-League Collegiate Conference Season 12 when the NU Lady Bulldogs also became champions.

She repeated as the Finals Most Valuable Player and earned second Best Open Spiker honors during the 2016 Shakeys V-League Open Conference Season 13 playing for Pocari Sweat.

Shakey’s V-League rival Philippine Superliga has signed other players to similar contracts but only for one-year at most. Rachel Anne Daquis and Jaja Santiago reportedly got P80,000 a month from RC Cola and Foton.

Volleyball superstar Alyssa Valdez was supposed to have gotten a P100,000 a month from Bureau of Customs.

But said contracts were not long-term.

While the Shakey’s V-League admittedly started everything which led to the booming popularity of women’s volleyball the subsequent birth of the PSL and the rivalry between the two leagues have led to the pay bonanza now enjoyed by the women volleyball superstars.

It remains to be seen whether the rivalry between the Shakey’s VLeague and the PSL will ultimately do more harm than good to Philippine volleyball.

In the short term at least, players like Myla Pablo, who will be getting lucrative contracts, are reaping the benefits of that rivalry.

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Business

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@thestandard.com.ph

YOUNG ZALORA CEO CHANGES FASHION RETAIL

By Othel V. Campos

A

32-YEAR-OLD executive is driving the growth of electronic commerce in the Philippines, encouraging millennials to shop for fashion items through their smartphones.

Paulo Campos III, the Princeton University-educated co-founder and

managing director of Zalora Philippines, says his company is scaling up operations to keep up with the frenetic activities during the holiday season.

“The market is accelerating this year compared to last year and even faster than the last time we talked.

Christmas is drawing more and more customers to shop online,” Campos says in a news briefing.

“Sales momentum started to pick-up as early as October, a few weeks earlier than last year. And the peaks and highs are even higher than last year. But I can tell you in December we’re averaging more than double the traffic last year, or more than 100 percent,” says Campos, while announcing Zalora’s biggest sales event—12.12 Online Fever—a four-day campaign that starts midnight of Dec. 12 across Southeast Asia.

Zalora Philippines, which is supported by Germany’s Rocket Internet GmBh, is Asia’s leading online fashion retailer. Campos helped establish Zalora Philippines in January 2012 when he was 28, after working for The Boston Consulting Group in Singapore and Ayala Land Inc. Campos graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Princeton University in 2005.

He also has an MBA degree from Harvard Business School.

Campos says this year’s cyber sales event offers exclusive deals on more than 200 fashion and beauty brands across six markets, including the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia.

Campos says 12.12 Online Fever is a region-wide sales event that aims to drive the e-commerce industry across the region, bringing to consumers some of the best deals that encourage online purchases and convert traditional shoppers into e-consumers.

He observes that buyers have been spending more time on the net, especially when the holiday season peaks.

From browsing an average of 10 minutes in previous years, consum-

ers are now spending 13 to 14 minutes per browse on the net “which maybe small from a consumer point of view but big for us already.”

“The more they spend time visiting our site, the more they get engaged, the more they tend to make a purchase,” he says. “More engagement, I think, is because of more brands [and] better assortment [of products]. They are more coming to the website and the figure is doubling.” Globally, Zalora has seen an increase in new customers by 32 percent. With most of the major brands now housed in Zalora, the company is focused on deepening engagements with brands and with customers.

“We are always adding more brands, but at this rate we got almost the big ones. Now we’re going deeper as we are shifting our focus to deepening the engagement with customers. We will be doing other brands, as well. Those big names that haven’t signed up up with us, we intend to convince them more,” Campos says.

“The thing about big brands is that they create incremental demand. In fashion, it’s all in the brand.

Our progress this year, why we move from strength to strength, is because we’ve proven that our brand profile is one of the best in the online world,” says Campos.

As sales grow brisk, operations are also expected to keep up with the volume. Zalora is beefing up its delivery system, hiring more riders on top of the current fleet of 400.

Zalora is pro-active, he says, as it moves to determine fashion trends, globally and on the regional scale.

It also helps consumers arrive at a decision via the shopper’s price comparison.

Cyber shopping has changed the mindset of Filipino consumers, he says. In 2016, the Philippines reached the average global e-commerce penetration rate.

A study by an independent research company in Singapore shows that about 46 percent of Filipinos now have access to the internet, while 29 percent of Filipinos have experienced online shopping.

Scan this icon to view the PDF

ONLINE RETAILER.

Zalora Philippines co-founder and managing director Paulo Campos III

TECH TRENDS IN 2017 LOCAL cloud services and data center pioneer IP Converge Data Services Inc. predicts the top ICT trends that will dominate the Philippines next year.

IPC director for product management and marketing Niño Valmonte says the integration of various digital tools and solutions in the workplace will continue to lead as increasing trends and the benefits that go with them emerge.

“The adoption of digital tools which started in 2016 extends to 2017 and beyond, as Filipinos become more digitally reliant not only in their personal lives but at work as well,” Valmonte says.

With office space generally becoming smaller and smaller, and the traffic situation worsening over time, SMEs and large enterprises are now starting to look at the possibility of implementing “work-at-home” or “work-from-anywhere” options.

“With almost everyone having devices and Internet connection at home or on the go, the option of telecommuting is viable for employees who want to stay productive,” says Valmonte.

The support of telecommuting has increasingly found support even from the government as the Department of Information and Communications Technology recently suggested this option during the 1st DICT Summit in November.

With the proliferation of various SaaS (software-as-a-service) business applications available today, companies can maintain and even increase productivity anytime and anywhere.

The future of telecommuting is seen to be clearer in light with high smartphone penetration rate which is expected to reach 70 percent by 2018, and general price reduction of other mobile devices becoming prevalent in the market.

Online chat apps allow teams to both collaborate in open forums or just casually talk or catch up in private messages.

This saves precious time and effort since employees need only to type on their PCs or even in their mobile phones anytime and anywhere.

“Being a social people, we Turn to C2

WELCH’S LAUNCHES NEW CAMPAIGN IN PH

Welch’s marketing representative Erika Rodriguez

WELCH’S, a leading brand for bottled fruit juices, has been a part of the dinner table for over 140 years. The brand is named after its founder, Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch, who decided to serve grape juice instead of wine to his fellow parishioners in Vineland, New Jersey back in 1869.

Welch’s has since been popularly known for its grape juice variant that’s made with 100-percent grapes, particularly of Concord grapes that give it a distinct bold taste.

These grapes are grown and harvested by about 1,000 family-farmer owners in vineyards found across the United States and Canada. For these families, farming is not just their source of livelihood but a way of life.

The anecdote also encapsulates what the brand has become synonymous and what has endured to this day – the company’s desire to bring

goodness to people and places. In the Philippines, families have enjoyed the freshness of Welch’s juices for the past 20 years.

“Filipinos give value to the presence of their families more than anything,” says Erika Ro driguez, Welch’s marketing representative in the Philippines. “This value resonates with Welch’s thrust on family and tradition as we are a family-farmer owned organization.”

In line with the brand’s global vision, Welch’s Philippines has embarked on a new campaign called “Share What’s Good.” The campaign aims to start a movement that’s all about sharing the goodness of intimate moments and celebrations made even more special by Welch’s great-tasting fruit juices and sparkling beverages.

“Welch’s believes in the magic of ‘kitchen table’ moments and has

been helping families enjoy them for generations. In the time it takes to drink a glass of juice or share a sandwich, a special moment can happen. It’s all about sharing those special moments that occur each day with family, friends, and loved ones – whether it’s at home or on the go,” says Erika.

Goodness not only refers to the taste and refreshing quality of Welch’s products. The campaign also aims to highlight the health benefits of drinking Welch’s grape juice.

The entire Concord grape is pressed into the juice so every glass contains a concentrated amount of polyphenols, a natural plant nutrient, that plays a key role in supporting a healthy heart. Welch’s also presents a convenient and easier way of making healthier choices for family since Welch’s 100-percent Grape Juice Turn to C2

Business

C2

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 business@thestandard.com.ph

MINDANAO LASS WINS CARMUDI SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE car classifieds site Carmudi Philippines announced the winner of its third scholarship program, created to help diligent but financially needy students in the Philippines.

This semester, the winner of the scholarship program hails from the city of Koronadal in South Cotabato. Lorraine Pajarillo, an Accountancy major from Notre Dame of Marbel University in South Cotabato, has shown diligence and perseverance with regard to her academic endeavors, securing her place as Carmudi’s scholar this term.

Carmudi Philippines believes that education plays an important role in the development of an individual and society as a whole.

As such, the Carmudi PH Scholarship Program was created to encourage and provide support for academically gifted students all over the country.

Kape Umali owner Rondel Olarte

THERAPIST COUPLE REVIVES BAGUIO’S COFFEE INDUSTRY

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales Lorraine Pajarillo (center) receives a certificate of scholarship from Carmudi.

The program is open nationwide to all 3rd and 4th year college students who have good academic standing. If selected, the chosen scholar will receive a financial grant amounting to P30,000.

The grant can be used to pay for school tuition and other academic fees.

Pajarillo is the eldest of three siblings and the daughter of a bank employee and a housewife. With her father being the family’s only source of income, she has taken the initiative to buy and sell books in order to help her parents cover some of the expenses at school.

Currently, Pajarillo is in her 7th semester and is about to graduate as one of the top students in her batch. She has consistently excelled in her studies and has always been at the top of her class. She has also consistently made it as a dean’s lister and will be a remarkable candidate for Latin honors when she graduates next year.

Aside from having excellent grades, Pajarillo has also been known for her cocurricular and extracurricular activities.

This is evidenced by her participation in a team that competed against larger schools and popular universities in a national scientific investigatory contest. Her team’s project about the effects of coconut, bamboo, cogon grass and banana tree on blood clotting won them the award.

Aside from that, she has been a member of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines and is also one of her school’s top competitive debaters.

This balanced life inside and outside of school has made Pajarillo the recipient of this semester’s Carmudi PH scholarship grant.

WELCH’S...

From C1

comes in a variety of sizes (64oz, 46oz, 16oz and 10oz), which means children can bring a bottle of Welch’s to school, to a potluck family event, or to an out-of-town trip.

“Nothing brings together Filipino families like a spread of delicious food and Welch’s is a brand that reflects the Filipino’s love for celebrations and sense of community,” says Jun Cochanco, president of Fly Ace Corp., Welch’s Philippine distributor.

“We are proud to share the goodness of Welch’s to Filipino families.”

TECH..

From C1

Filipinos are known for our use of a variety of communication apps. In fact, a study made by We Are Social revealed that Filipinos tops the list of countries with the most time spent on social media each day with an average time of 5 hours and 12 minutes,” he says.

Businesses of all shapes and sizes will also increasingly spend time to derive business value from data. Organizations

A

physical therapist couple has revived Baguio City’s coffee industry with an initial capital of P10,000, creating dozens of jobs from farms to stores since 2004.

Rondel Olarte, 37, is currently managing Kape Umali, the first coffee shop in Baguio. The shop, which was established by her grandmother in 1948 in Shangri-La Village along Asin Road, offers espresso-based latte, cappuccino, Americano, macchiato and mocha.

“It’s coffee from earth to cup. But we also provide coffee seedlings for farmers and give coffee 101 seminars and consultations for farmers, cafe owners and baristas,” says Olarte.

He says the coffee shop aims to excite customers by serving premium quality coffee, espresso beverage and coffee cocktails with the traditional Filipino touch.

“Growing up, I was exposed to the coffee industry at an early age as I recall from the stories my family told me and to some accounts from relatives and business colleagues. In 1948 after the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, Arsenia Umali fled Lipa, Batangas with her only son Alberto Umali Olarte—my father to the highlands of Baguio City,” Olarte says.

Olarte says to provide for her son and family, her grandmother brought the barako coffee to the Cordilleras to make a living. “Buying and selling coffee, they stumbled upon the Benguet coffee locally grown in the Cordilleras. The first store was established in 1948 located in Baguio City public market as a family business and became a prominent name as a coffee supplier in cooperation with several farms providing coffee around the region, helping each other for the love of coffee. Using the family name Umali which also means welcome in the Cordilleran dialect. Hence, the store was called Umali Coffee Store,” he says.

Umali Coffee became the number one source of coffee beans, not only in the city, but in the entire province and most parts of northern Luzon in the 1960s and 1970s. It had two store branches located at the public market and Baguio hangar market. In the 1980s, they started venturing into cafeterias located at Hangar Market, Hilltop Hotel and 2nd Kayang Street.

After her grandmother’s death, most of the stores were under different administrations mostly because of unsettled debt, mismanagement and many other reasons.

“However, the first store held its ground and survived the turmoil. Then, almost my entire family left for the United States. The stores were offered to other companies and were in lease for almost a decade,” Olarte says.

“When my wife [Sheila Marie Gumban Olarte] and I came into the picture, we revived the coffee shop. Caffeine Addict was established 2004 in Nevada Square in Baguio City under the collaboration of Sendero Luminoso and Umali Coffee Store, and tried to regain the Umali name as a dominant coffee provider,” he says.

In 2010, Umali Coffee Store and Caffeine Ad-

will have to adapt technologies to map with IoT. With big data analytics, a company can enhance customer experience, streamline existing processes, achieve more targets, and reduce costs.

“Analytics drive business by showing how your customers think, what they want, and how the market views your brand. In the coming year, this will be a cornerstone of how businesses operate. Every important decision can and should be supported by data and analytics,” says Valmonte.

dict were consolidated under Kape Umali Coffee Company in cooperation with GFI (established in 1987), as its coffee farms and roasting partner, reclaiming its original stature in the Cordillera market with the help of loyal customers, good relations with local coffee farmers and other client companies.

In 2011, Kape Umali reopened at its original location at Hangar Market and in Shangri-La village.

In 2013, the simple coffee shop became a micro roaster and a diner.

Olarte says in 2014, he and his wife re-invented the coffee shop and roaster into a jazz café. They also started offering barista training to friends who also want to start their own shops.

“At present, Kape Umali is inching its way once again as one of the biggest source of roasted coffee beans in the region. We are now providing coffee all throughout the Philippines and other parts of the globe. Venturing to coffee shops, cafeterias and coffee merchandising. We are also advocating agriculture development in-support of farmers’ better welfare, empowering start-up coffee shops through supply and barista assistance, and uplifting the coffee industry in the Philippines,” he says.

Olarte says while they have managed their own farms, most of their supplies are from local farmers of Benguet and Cavite single-origin farms and consolidated farms.

According to Olarte, the business is currently doing well as people start to appreciate the local coffee industry. “It’s doing well. We are currently on the rise because of the nationwide awareness of the coffee culture. If I remember correctly back in 2013, during the Department of Trade and Industry’s first Coffee Conference, where I was one of the speakers.

There were just a handful of stakeholders, farmers that are into coffee, roasters and even local coffee shops around. In just a span of three years, these numbers doubled in size,” says Olarte.

Olarte says despite the success, he did not plan to be an entrepreneur, initially. “I just did what I had to do to survive and to keep the legacy alive.

My wife and I are licensed physical therapists. I graduated at Pines City Colleges in Baguio City and had my Master’s at Philippine Rehabilitation Institute in Quezon City,” he says.

“It was the circumstances, opportunities that opened—the simple passion about coffee and the desire for self improvement that drove me into this line of work,” Olarte says.

As the business started to gain popularity, Olarte said there were a lot of challenges along the way. “Of course there were challenges, and I believe there will be more to come. When we started, the first thing that we encountered was emotional distress. A lot of people did not have faith in what we were doing. Some even laughed and said we were crazy.”

“The solution—ignore them and focus on what we do. Next would be funding, although we started small and business was okay. Small capital means small income. We have to upgrade and increase our stock. Since saving what was left was not enough, we resulted in loans, consignments and even doing a lot of garage sales. It was all worth it,” Olarte says.

Olarte says people could not believe that they were able to revive the business from an initial capital of P10,000. “If they ask me how, I usually just answer it was keen planning and right tim-

ing,” Olarte says.

Olarte says that as they ventured into the coffee industry, they found things that made them more interested to improve their business. “Being in the medical field, we managed to incorporate our profession into the business. Treating coffee like a pharmaceutical, we try to suggest coffee drinks that suits our client’s age, lifestyle and even medical condition. Another thing that made us curious is the history of coffee. We are fond of trivias and coffee has lots of them. There were so many interesting personalities, events and discoveries that coffee had fueled and revolutionized. And we get to encounter clients with the same passion as us which makes it more fulfilling,” says Olarte.

Olarte says when they have time, he and his wife draw and paint. Some of their artworks are displayed in their shops.

“Being an artist myself, making coffee is also an art form. From agriculture to processing to roasting all the way down to making latte art,” he says.

“I’m also a member of the band Cortado. I play double bass [contrabajo], electric bass guitar, guitar and I’m also a vocalist. We have regular sets in some establishments in Baguio city and of course in our own shop,” he says.

On weekdays, Olarte says most of his time goes to coffee roasting. “We roast two to three times a week. Most deliveries are done on the weekdays and most of our meetings as well. Wednesdays, we do cupping and quality check on our coffee, in-house barista training and our monthly coffee seminar. During weekends, most of our patrons come to have coffee. The coffee stores as well as the shops, are bombarded with different customers from all walks of life. Weekends at the Jazz Café is the only time that there are bands playing and events are held,” Olarte says.

Olarte believes that one of the things that made the business successful is dedication.

“Since we are 100 percent involved or as they say, hands on to our business, most of our employees are my relatives and friends just numbering to 20. As a coffee provider, we want to earn the loyalty of customers and grow the business by developing and marketing coffee products such as Arabica, Liberica, Excelsa and Robusta that are leaders in quality and customer interest.

To enable and inspire customers to enjoy a coffee experience by providing distinctive, excellent service, high quality products, superior coffee and knowledge,” says Olarte.

Olarte says the company is undergoing expansion. “We started branching out within Baguio.

We now have four branches within the city. We are also partnering outlets in La Trinidad, Manila, Bacoor, Tuguegarao, Cebu, San Fernando, Tarlac, and also in Budapest, Hungary.”

“We are very optimistic and highly enthusiastic to move forward with all our plans for the next five or ten years. As coffee has transcended from the simple house brewing to the first second and third wave of coffee shops. We anticipate the rise of the coffee culture globally especially in the Philippines,” Olarte says.

“I could say that my biggest accomplishment would be making a mark in the coffee industry especially here in the Cordilleras. If you entered a business, engulf yourself into that industry.

Know everything about it and love what you do.

Don’t learn how to love your job. You should love it even before you know it’s your job,” Olarte says.

With more and more companies becoming aware of the benefits of “going digital,” the integration of automated processes in businesses will continue to rise. This evolution is perpetuated by the convergence of multiple trends across different sectors such as mobile technology,

social media, IT, and data security.

This year, IPC held a series of workshops and training seminars to urge companies to further develop their businesses using digital tools.

Called “Gear Up to Innovate: An essential blueprint for digital transformation,” the seminars featured an immersive demo of collaborative business applications and witness how workplace productivity can be elevated through these tools.

Gadgets & Games

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

OPPO GIVING AWAY 100 F1 UNITS

Jay Ranola, Alvin Habaña, Chris Papa and Don Navarro of Dell are shown during the Dell Inspiron 15 launch.

DELL INSPIRON 15 GAMING LAPTOP PACKS A WALLOP

I

F you want a truly powerful laptop for an exciting gaming experience, look no further, Dell Inspiron 15 is here.

Extra-capacity heat exchangers connected by oversized piping to dual cooling fans with high-efficiency blade pitch is specifically engineered to handle the powerful combination of Intel’s 6th generation quad-core mobile CPUs and NVIDIA’s latest GeForce® GTX 960M discrete graphics with 4 GB of blazing fast GDDR5 memory, thus giving high frame-per-second rates in games and immersive experience while playing.

Its 6-cell 74WHr battery can power your favorite games or uninterrupted creative works up to 13.5 hours.

Dell Philippines recently introduced its newest baby, the Inspiron 15 Gaming laptop that is expected to fit the needs of gaming enthusiasts.

Featuring the most aggressive performance design and components offered within the Inspiron laptop family, Inspiron 15 boasts of powerful quad core processors from Intel, discrete graphics and a deepreserve battery for users’ ultimate gaming experience.

“Game development industry in the Philippines continues to grow and the growing number of colleges and universities in the country offering formal game development courses means we’ll see a large number of developers and game enthusiasts in the near future, said Chris Papa, country manager, Dell Philippines.

“Game developers and enthusiast expect outstanding outcome of creative works and performance that demonstrate true professional quality and at the same time bringing rich entertainment experience to life. This new Inspiron gaming laptop is the essential device for them.”

Even the screen looks stunning with its Truelife Ultra HD (4K resolution) and its FHD anti-glare displays, allowing one to enjoy the games in stunning, brilliant details. For power users, the ability to see things to the finest detail is a critical advantage to deliver high-quality creative works.

The stunning display is complemented by its Dell-designed high performance speakers with onboard subwoofer and Waves MaxxAudio® Pro, delivering a pure audio experience.

Tailored for gamers

After sales service

Screen

Inspiron 15 houses dedicated forFor those concerned with its after ward and rearward thermal outlets. sales service, buying a Dell Inspiron

15 Gaming comes with Dell Premium Support service, with improved support and simplified steps. Just call Dell’s Hotline at +63 2 663 2000 or 1800 1601 0061.

Dell Premium Support eliminates the hassle with award-winning SupportAssist technology that automatically detects hardware and software issues and proactively alerts consumers with system alerts and by email when they occur. Dell’s expert technicians even call consumers with all the information they need to quickly resolve critical issues.

Dell Premium Support key service offerings include: • 24x7 support access by phone or online • Onsite service after remote diagnosis within 1-2 business days

• Single resource for hardware and software expertise • Proactive resolution of issues automatically detected by SupportAssist technology • Comprehensive software support and collaborative assistance for preinstalled software titles like Microsoft Office, Explorer, Outlook, and more • Help and “how to” for network connectivity, printer setup, back-up, anti-virus set up, operating system upgrades and more For more information, visit www. dell.com/premiumsupport.

Availability and Pricing

The Inspiron 15 Gaming (7566) will be available starting mid-December 2016 with starting price of P49,990.

The Inspiron 15 Gaming laptop that is expected to fit the needs of gaming enthusiasts.

measurements a second.

Commenting on the Tango technology, Ngan said that Tango makes spatial data accessible and useful for everyone.

the market for new furniture as it simulates the appearance of an object inside the house before buying the actual furniture.

The Technology behind Tango

Three core technologies bring Tango experiences to life: motion tracking, depth perception and area learning.

Through motion tracking, the Phab2 Pro’s “eye” sees its own location in 3D. Area learning tells the smartphone its location.

Depth perception lets the device analyze the shape of the world around it by detecting surfaces and obstacles. And now for the first time ever, your smartphone can visualize and understand its surrounding objects and environment via sensors that capture more than 250,000

Uploaded selfies must be in JPG, GIF, or PNG format and should be at least 300x300 pixels. For the entry to be valid, a creative caption must accompany the selfie along with the hashtags #OPPOSelfieExpert and #NationalSelfieDay. Judges will select the winners from entries with the most votes. Participants can vote for only one entry but not their own selfie.

Winners will be announced on Dec. 28 via OPPO’s Facebook page. They will also be notified through e-mail.

For more details about the contest mechanics, please visit https://www. facebook.com/OPPOPH/.

VIDEO REFEREES, ANYONE?

LENOVO UNVEILS 1ST TANGO-ENABLED PHONE AUGMENTED Reality took the country by storm this year thanks to Pokémon GO, but fans of the technology will have another reason to rejoice as Lenovo Philippines unveiled the much-awaited Phab 2 Pro. LenovoPhab2 Pro, the world’s first Tango-enabled smartphoneprovides users an elevated AR experience with Google’s Tango technology. The said feature can map physical spaces and overlay it with virtual effects, track objects, and map indoor spaces. Those abilities allow for new types of apps, experiments, and designs that previously couldn’t be carried out on standard AR-enabled phablets out in the market.

At the launch, Lenovo Philippines Country General Manager Michael Ngan expressed that the arrival will open up new opportunities.

“With the limitless capabilities provided by Tango, we hope that the Phab 2 Pro can raise our customers to new heights by making them into designers, innovators, and builders with no boundaries stopping them.”

Buyers of the Phab 2 Pro are in for a treat as well as Google recently launched 25 Tangoenabled apps on Google Play.

Want to turn your living room into a scaled-down version of the Solar System?

Well, then Solar Simulator app should be just right up your alley! Once enabled, the app can automatically scale the entire Solar System to fit inside your room.

There are also other fun apps such as Raise which gives you a virtual 3D pet to take care of and Lowe’s Home Improvement which allows you to place items everywhere—a must for those looking in

DECEMBER is indeed a season of giving.

As a way of extending gratitude, mobile technology brand OPPO is giving away 100 units of F1s to lucky Facebook users who will participate in the National Selfie Day Contest.

“The National Selfie Day Contest is OPPO’s way of giving back after all the milestones we made this year. It’s also our way of rewarding netizens for creatively expressing their most unforgettable holiday moments in selfies,” said OPPO Philippines Brand Marketing Manager Stephen Cheng.

To join the contest, participants must first go to OPPO Philippines’ Facebook page and click the National Selfie Photo Contest tab.

Upon registration, participants must provide their full name, contact number, and email address. Each Facebook account can upload only one selfie entry.

Premium Smartphone Design

While Tango makes the Phab2 Pro unique, the device stands on its own as a premium smartphone. It is powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 652 processor, which brings efficient hardware integration and processing, leading 4G LTE connectivity, and cutting-edge time stamping and camera and sensor processing capabilities. Demanding computer vision processing is performed by a single, integrated and highly efficient Snapdragon processor with a tightly integrated suite of key modules including a DSP, ISP and integrated sensor hub. The

Snapdragon heterogeneous computing platform is optimally balanced for a Tango workload and is designed for all-day use. The Snapdragon 652 processor also quickly processes and time stamps all the rich sensor data simultaneously received from multiple camera sensors, gyro and accelerometer, resulting in a fast, smooth augmented reality experience, where 3D AR graphic overlays track more naturally to the physical surroundings.

The Phab2 Pro features Dolby AudioTM Capture 5.1 with Dolby Atmos® playback capabilities to help capture life’s moments on video with great quality audio. With Dolby Audio Capture 5.1, you can use crystal-clear 5.1-channel surround sound to record and share the full panorama of your life, adding amazing richness, clarity and depth to your special moments. Making this possible are three microphones, spatial capture with noise reduction, along with an onboard 16mp camera that supports crisp 4K video recording. Also, when you watch Dolby Atmos content over headphones, you’ll feel like you’re in the middle of the action on screen with immersive, moving audio. The 6.4-inch Phab2 Pro boasts an intelligent Assertive Display with a pin-sharp QHD (2,560 x 1,440) resolution, capable of optimizing image quality based on ambient lighting and content.

Aside from the Phab 2 Pro, Lenovo also launched the Phab 2and Phab2 Plus in the country. Made for an augmented entertainment experience, the Phab2 features a 1280x720 HD IPS Screen and Dolby Atmos speakers that enable the device to play sounds in crisp and clear 5.1 surround sound quality.

ZURICH—Assistant referees in video rooms with access to all match images will be used for the first time in FIFA competition at this month’s Club World Cup, FIFA said Wednesday.

The system will be trialed at the tournament in Japan which features Real Madrid and kicks off on Thursday, with FIFA appearing to be moving towards bringing in video referees for major competitions, including the World Cup. The video assistant referees— dubbed “an important piece of history” by FIFA—will correct referees in crucial match-changing decisions such as red card offences or penalty calls.

“This represents a big step forward in terms of testing the technology,” said Marco van Basten, FIFA’s chief officer of technical development.

“We are entering somewhat uncharted territory. Ultimately, these tests should prove invaluable in terms of determining whether the processes are sound or not.”

The match referee will continue to take the first as well as the final decision and will be able to review footage on a pitch-side monitor for certain decisions.

But the VARs (video assistant referees) will have access to all broadcast feeds, enabling them to alert the referee if he makes a call that images clearly suggest is incorrect.

“The VAR system has been developed, just like goal-line technology, to provide additional support for the referee,” said Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s head of refereeing.

“We want the essential flow of the game to be maintained.”

A follow-up series of tests will feature in competition in 12 countries, including in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. AFP

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

Gadgets & Games

IN SEARCH OF PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFTS

L

ESS than a month before Christmas Day, holiday shoppers are already poised to seek out the perfect gifts for their loved ones. Although different items will be chosen as presents for family and friends, the most thoughtful ones will always be those that can make the recipients’ quality of life better.

LG Music Flow P5 LG’s unique portfolio of convenience-enhancing electronics leaves the company well poised for success as people select the best gifts this festive season.

Share meaningful experiences together with LG’s 2016 TV line-up

Buying a new television set is in line with the heightened desire that many families have to spend quality time together during the holiday season.

LG’s all-new 4K OLED TV frontlines the best of LG’s 2016 home entertainment line-up with distinctive upgrades in producing perfect color imagery through Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR), a transformative technology that allows for a more dramatic visual experience.

New updates also include the innovative Picture-on-Glass Design, which brings consumers an ultra-thin 3.37 mm OLED panel with a translucent glass back to complement any decor scheme.

LG also partnered with top-tier

audio pioneer Harman/Kardon for a TV speaker system that delivers clean, distortion- and reverberation-free audio.

LG’s IPS panels are designed and developed with an advanced imaging technology that delivers ultra-realistic colors, as well as crisp details in stunning 4K. Compared to other types of television panels, LG IPS ensures true color accuracy, wide viewing angle, blur-free clarity, and a more durable, stable screen.

This impressive technology from LG is developed in their 2016 Super UHD TVs which redefine the ultra high definition TV category. Apart

LG OLED TV from the industry-leading IPS 4K Quantum Display, this includes the industry-leading and HDR Pro. These enable higher color reproduction rates, consistent, distortion-free picture quality from any viewing angle, and genuine HDR. There are also the LG Smart TVs, which are made even smarter by the new LG webOS 3.0, making for easier, faster navigation across various unique features.

LG’s TWIN Wash

Fully satisfy your music cravings with new LG portable speakers

While consumers go for

LG Dual DID Ref large U H D T Vs to upgrade the visual capabilities of their home theatre, re member that immersive high-quality audio systems play a key role in achieving the per fec t viewing experience.

LG’s latest models in LG’s popular Music Flow series—the LG Music Flow P5 and the LG Music Flow Sound 360—combine flexibility with premium sound quality to bring immersive home audio to a new generation of listeners.

Capable of connecting to TVs and smart devices over Bluetooth, LG’s Innovative sound bars and 360 degree portable speakers bring crystal clear sound to every any seat in the room.

The LG Music Flow P5 is a lightweight speaker, which offers unmatched style through its classic wooden variant and luxury pouch, provides rich and smooth sounds with up to 12 hours of battery life for the audiophile’s indulgence.

Meanwhile, the LG Music Flow Sound 360 offers the same powerful audio quality and pairing capa-

MOBILE APP MAKES AIRCON SHOPPING ECO-FRIENDLY THE hot tropical climate is driving air-conditioning sales in Metro Manila, with one out of five households having purchased an AC unit in the last two years according to German-based market research firm GfK. Similar trends are seen in neighboring countries. A joint 2015 study by the United Nations Environment Programme and the ASEAN Standard Harmonization Initiative for Energy Efficiency revealed that air-conditioning accounted for almost half of the total residential and commercial power demand in Southeast Asia.

“Increased energy consumption translates to higher carbon emissions,” said Engr. Arthur A. Lopez, ASEAN SHINE Country Coordinator for the Philippines. “While air-conditioning has become indispensible to our comfort and productivity in the Philippines, we need better ways to meet our needs so we can reduce our environmental impact.”

As part of its efforts to aid governments in building a regional policy roadmap on energy performance standards for air conditioners, ASEAN SHINE has developed a Cost Savings Calculator that can assist consumers in choosing the best energy-saving AC unit for their needs.

bilities as the P5, but it also sports a one-of-a-kind 360-degree design and can run on a 20-hour battery life.

Welcome the family home this festive season

As the family table is filled with a lot of feast-worthy delights, LG’s Advanced Door-in-Door refrigerators can keep food, including leftovers, fresh for longer periods, ensuring that nothing goes to waste.

G’s first-of-its kind Dual Door-inDoor refrigerator comes not only packed with features that improve efficiency but also exude class and style, as it sports two mini-doors, each seamlessly mounted on top of the unit’s main top doors, allowing owners to store and conveniently locate frequently consumed food and drinks. Its Hygiene Fresh+ feature and energy-efficient Inverter Linear Compressor work which keeps keep the temperature intact, keeping ingredients crisp and fresh for a long period of time with less vibration and noise than a conventional compressor system.

Minimize effort of the postholiday rush with LG’s TWIN Wash washing machine. Its ergonomic design features a revolutionary main washer and mini-washer system that ultimately saves time, space, and energy for homeowners.

The world’s first LG TWIN WashTM enables two separate loads to be washed simultaneously by combining a full-sized front loading washing machine that handles the bulk of the laundry while the miniwasher set in a hide-away pedestal can run a different cycle.

More savings at less energy

The Cost Savings Calculator is a mobile app that enables retail salespersons to compare two AC models by calculating total ownership costs including purchase price and yearly electricity costs. The results demonstrate how more energy-efficient air conditioners can provide consumers with greater economic benefits.

“A five-star air conditioner might seem more expensive at first, but the long-term savings compared with that of a three-star unit only show that higher efficiency models help you cut down your expenses over several years,” Engr. Lopez said.

Through the UNEP and the International Copper Association, ASEAN SHINE has also received a grant from the European Union to promote higher efficiency AC units by harmonizing test methods and energy efficiency standards across the ASEAN region.

The ASEAN SHINE Cost Savings Calculator is available via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

For more information, please contact: Engr. Jovel C. Bulan Project Staff—ASEAN SHINE, Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers of the Philippines, Inc., no. 41 Monte de Piedad St. Cubao Quezon City; Mobile #: +63 917-5166100 (Globe) / +63 927-9126129 (Globe); Email Add: aseanshine.phils@gmail.com

EXPERIENCE HUAWEI AT ITS SM CITY SAN LAZARO STORE

By Peter Paul Duran SIMPLE. Premium. Warm and comfortable. These are the characteristics that guide the newest in the line of concept stores by emerging global smartphone manufacturer Huawei, four keywords the company feels should embody the experience of every consumer at any of their more than 40 stores nationwide.

Huawei introduced a new store identity with its new Huawei Experience Store at SM City San Lazaro to match its even higher ambitions, welcoming consumers with exciting deals to spiceup the launch of its newest concept store—the first of three prospected to open next year in the country.

The third biggest global smartphone marketer’s latest concept store is located at the 3rd floor of the SM City San Lazaro, which formally opened its doors on November 29, 2016, to service mall goers and the surrounding community.

A customer tests the high-end Huawei P9

“We have launched this new concept store to provide a professional and efficient consumer experience for our customers. Ensuring that we will continue to grow, this is just one of the many stores we plan to open nationwide,” said Huawei Philippines country head Andy Fang during the ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

The company says they have also strengthened their commitment to high technology and innovation, and it’s important for the smartphone giant to be one of the world’s best-loved brands by consumers, always welcoming and intimate.

According to Huawei, each store reflects their more premium image and ambitions, and it must also reflect the same approachable spirit that has made them such a popular consumer choice.

In truth, the first six customers were offered 50 percent off of selected handsets after the formal launch of the store.

Huawei Philippines country head Andy Fang

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

LGUs

Local Gov’t Units

WORKING ON ‘THE BEST TAYTAY’ Back for an unprecedented fourth term, Mayor Joric Gacula talks about leaving a legacy for this booming town just outside Metro Manila.

By Jimbo Gulle

ing Taytay’s yearly HAMAKA Festival, the acronym standing for “Hamba” or door jambs – the town also has a thriving woodworking industry – “Makina” for the sewing and woodwork machines the residents use, and “Kabuhayan” for the livelihood these industries provide.

“We have no more rice fields here.

We have become a highly industrialized commercial municipality, so every third week of February we celebrate this in our Araw ng Pasasalamat sa HAMAKA,” the mayor said. “We showcase the garment industry that’s booming in the country. Part of our festival is the ‘Road to HAMAKA,’ where we go full blast in letting buyers find in Taytay cheap, quality clothes and furniture, and we will not let it rest, as we will boost our advertising of the festival.”

I

T’S never easy to start from scratch. Fortunately, that’s not a problem for Taytay Mayor George Ricardo “Joric” Gacula II, who’s back at his old post after a three-year break.

Unfortunately, things aren’t the same as how the mayor left it in 2013, when he stepped down after three straight three-year terms, the limit imposed by law. Six months into his fresh mandate as the chief executive of this booming first-class municipality of Rizal province, there’s a lot of room for improvement, and he discusses those points with The Standard in an exclusive interview.

Wish list

Better education

Mayor Joric is happy that in his first few months, he’s seen “a big improvement” to the town. “Thanks to the experience in my first three terms, it’s been easy to cope. I have a good team with me, good department heads that are with me to serve Taytay,” he said.

This term, the mayor wants to focus on two things: education and health.

“We want to beef up our educational system, particularly the K-to-12 program. Our town doesn’t have enough school buildings to host students in the new grade levels, so instead of graduating (from high school), some have stopped schooling, as they cannot afford the heavy tuition in private K-to-12 schools. We want our publicschool system to offer the same courses as they do.”

Admittedly, Taytay does not have a lot of tourist areas, “and we have no natural resources to earn from, so our treasure is our manpower. Our people are our treasure,” Gacula said.

The mayor is proud of Taytay’s high literacy rate, and so he would like to maintain and improve it. “It’s very evident that we have good level of education, and Taytay natives work all over Metro Manila,” he said.

As an example, “the Canadian call center that opened in our town, Bell Canada, their investors told me they didn’t have any problems in recruitment here. It was an efficient recruitment, our people have high English proficiency, and their job quota was almost filled up by our residents alone.

That’s why we’re geared toward improving our education, and maintaining our standards.”

Photo by Aldrine Leonardo

Better health services

The mayor admits he left out some things in his last term, so now he is geared toward improving Taytay’s health services. “How can kids study if they’re not healthy? They won’t be productive if they’re ill. That’s why they are my two priorities: health and education,” he said.

Since he reassumed office in July, Gacula says they have fixed the health services at Taytay’s emergency hospitals, and improved their field health services such as vaccinations.

“We are trying to improve our hospital facilities,” he said. “We have just purchased new equipment for our hospital and we are continuing to develop it. We have a new dialysis center and a new digital x-ray machine that we will use to cater to our constituents who cannot afford private hospitals.”

Taytay is also purchasing an ultrasound machine, a digital electrocardiogram, and new laboratory and diagnostic equipment. “We see that a lot of our citizens, especially the poor, they get sick and die just because they didn’t get the chance to have a simple diagnostic check-up,” Gacula said.

Unlike his last term, the mayor is happy he doesn’t have to spend as

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much time battling the drug menace. “We’re happy that with President Duterte focused on the big headache that’s illegal drugs, it’s a big relief for us, it’s allowed us to pursue our own problems,” he said. “(Duterte) knows our problems because he was a former mayor, and the police are ordered to perform, so we have left the burden of dealing with drugs to them, it’s less work to do on that end,” Gacula added. “Maybe police used to work with 50 percent effort, but now it’s at 110 percent because of the President’s prodding. You know that a town or city with drugs is not productive, so we’ve seen a big improvement since the pushers have been caught.”

Anti-bullying campaign

Part of ensuring the development of Taytay’s youth is keeping them from social ills such as bullying. The Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 already mandates schools to ensure it doesn’t happen, but Mayor Joric hopes to take it a step further.

“All of us have experienced going to school and getting picked on. It influences us psychologically when you go through this, so with the help of the Department of Education and private schools here, our LGU has programs that encourage schools to stop bullying at the classroom level,” he said.

“Our campaign has seminars and exposure trips for students to see it’s not healthy to bully.”

Taytay is also coordinating with the general parent-teacher associations to bring more advice to children, and to emphasize that guidance should come from the parents.

“Kids should see it’s not good to bully fellow kids,” the mayor said. “Back in the day, we’d reason ‘away bata ‘yan’ and not care about it, but now it’s the responsibility of parents, teachers, the DepEd, and the LGU to bring the message across to these kids.

“You know kids, once you explain things to them, and they see they’d be shamed, kids these days are smart. If

you ‘beat them up’ with information, ‘beat them up’ with encouragement and advice to stop these acts, things will get better,” Mayor Joric said.

Business-friendly town

As for business, Gacula’s administration is squarely behind President Duterte’s call to simplify transactions with local governments. “The President’s SONA (State of the Nation Address) said that within three days LGUs should release permits. For us, within 30 minutes we give it out,” the mayor said.

“Our LGU protects businessmen, local and foreign. Investors that come to us get incentives, they see that we are serious with helping prime industry of our town, which is the garments sector,” Mayor Joric added. “Garments provides 60 to 70 percent of our economy, so all our efforts are focused on helping businessmen and traders here (in that industry).”

The focus on business is evident dur-

Mayor George Ricardo "Joric" Gacula II is the first mayor in Taytay's long history to be reelected to office after serving an initial three straight terms, and he plans to leave a lasting legacy for the Rizal town dubbed "The Garments Capital of the Philippines." His administration is focusing on education, health, and the rebuilding of Taytay's public market, while processing business permits in as fast as 30 minutes at the new Municipal Hall inside the Club Manila East compound.

With about 30 months left in his fourth term, Gacula hopes for one thing the most: to have Taytay’s Public Market rebuilt from the fire that gutted it six years ago in his third term.

The present market is a makeshift structure that’s held in a parking lot, and the local government still subsidizes its operation.

“A market is an economic enterprise, supposedly an income-generating enterprise, but now it’s not OK, it’s messy, tight and narrow. It’s not our ‘real’ public market, and our LGU is subsidizing their expenses, which is wrong.

A market should be an earning, income-generating sector that can help government with its other projects,” Mayor Joric said.

Why hasn’t it been rebuilt? “Politics sometimes rears its ugly head,” the mayor said. “I don’t have control over the municipal council, only a few councilors are with me (from the same political party). It would be a big help for our town to unite behind this cause. Still, I’m sad that because of politics some people can stand this situation of not having a proper market, when the townsfolk suffer.”

The support of the town council is crucial because only it can give the green light to the Rizal provincial board, which would then craft a resolution for rebuilding the public market through a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines, Gacula explained.

“The provincial board is making sure that everybody is amenable to this, so we are asking the Taytay council to stand as one to give the go-signal to provincial board that we want this project finished -- no conditions, no finger pointing or grandstanding, no politics,” the mayor said.

Second on the wish list is putting up a lot more classrooms for Taytay’s public schools. “I don’t want our kids to have their classes under a tree,” he said. The town also wants to improve its teacher-to-student ratio “down to the standard of private schools, which is 1 to 45. It’s sad that in our public schools sometimes it’s 1 to 70, 1 to 80.

Kids won’t learn that way.”

Third, Mayor Joric hopes Taytay’s textile and garment industry won’t lose momentum. “In fact, it’s gaining momentum, it’s at such a good pace that I hope it won’t stop,” he said.

Fourth, the mayor hopes Taytay would have its own general hospital.

“We really need it. We need new diagnostic equipment, a CT scan machine, and good accommodations for our sick indigent patients, so we can deliver basic services in terms of health.”

Cityhood plans

Another wish, which can be put off for the meantime, is turning Taytay into a city. “It would be a dream to become a city, but right now we are weighing the pros and cons,” Gacula said. “As a municipality, we are getting so much investments because our taxes are lower and salaries here are at provincial rates, which is eye candy for investors.”

Turn to D2

LGUs

D2

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

LGU LOGO

WHAT MAKES TAYTAY TOWN A “NEXT WAVE CITY”?

By Honor Blanco Cabie

T

AYTAY, the densely-populated town some 28 kms east of Manila, has become a nerve center for garments in the metropolis and the surrounding towns overlooking Laguna de Bay, the country’s largest inland lake.

It is considered one of the “Next Wave Cities” for Outsourcing Firms and Call Centers, 10th place out of 10 cities and the only municipality.

The National Competitiveness Council has named Taytay as the 2nd Most Competitive Municipality in the first and second class category this year, from being 10th place in 2014 and third place last year.

But old hands say the town’s “Tiangge” has made the municipality known—with almost 320,000 population—not only in the whole of Rizal but across the country, which has a population of 105 million people.

Officials said the “Tiangge” —also known as street bargain market among tourists and nearby residents—is strategically located beside the New Taytay Public Market, at the entrance arc of Club Manila East Road.

Local and foreign tourists find along the road a succession of different stores selling different kinds of fabrics, different varieties of ready-to-wear or RTW clothes, curtains and others hawked at affordable prices with their high quality.

Some sources have said most of the retail shops in Divisoria in Manila, the Tiendesitas in Pasig and Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City continue to patronize and buy products at the “Tiangge.”

At the same time, Taytay lives up to its moniker as the “woodworks and garments capital” of the Philippines with its high-quality manufacturers of wooden architecture products.

These include doors, windows, jambs, stair components, lattices, moldings and other made-to-order wooden products.

Officials said Taytay is one of the major suppliers of wood products like furniture for

WORKING...

From E1 Becoming a city would also require Taytay “to be on our own,” he added.

“To be self-sufficient, we’d need to increase taxes, that might not be good for our business sector, unlike now that

MADISON SHOPPING PLAZA INC. We’ve got it all for you.

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home, sala set and wood carvings both sold for local clients and those residing overseas.

Rising to its commitment of being a business-friendly community, the local government has encouraged the establishment of new partnership for progress with investors.

The town also offers a memorable dining experience, with native and local cuisines in home-grown restaurants—with tourists savoring the taste of the Taytay-brand lauya, talibubu, barutak, biñabasan, budbod, and hibok-hibok.

Those on a spiritual pilgrimage can take a tour at the Spanish-inspired facade of St. John the Baptist Church, founded in 1579 and completed in 1630.

Franciscan missionaries first arrived to establish a parish in Taytay in 1579 and built a chapel made of light materials near the shores of Laguna de Bay named “Visita de Sta. Ana de Sapa,” dedicated to its patron saint.

Jesuit missionaries took over the administration of the parish in 1591, with Fr. Pedro Chirino becoming the parish priest, under whose administration the parish was relocated from the flood-prone shores of Laguna de Bay to a hill called San Juan del Monte.

Residents tell tourists to experience the warm ambiance and serenity of what they call the “Church in the sky” while enjoying the sight of the Tungtong River, first classified as a “creek” in the government records of the municipality of Taytay.

This river runs around around the area of the Beverly Hills Subdivision in This town, stretching for 15 kms and is connected to the Pasig River by means of the Manggahan floodway.

we are really reaping the benefits of being a town very close to three cities.

We’re catching all their fallout; investors who have tried Pasig, Taguig, and Antipolo are going to us.

“Blessings are falling on us, and not every municipality has this advantage.

Ours is proximity; we are within distance of all cities (in Metro Manila) but

Taytay is a bustling first-class municipality that's home to over 7,000 businesses and establishments, big—like the SM mall and several other commercial centers—and small alike. Apart from being the home of thousands of garment manufacturers, Taytay is also known for its woodworking and furniture industry, with some of its products show above.

we have a low cost of living here,” the mayor added.

In the meantime, Mayor Joric asks for his constituents’ patience and understanding as he builds the “Best Taytay” for them. “I can’t do everything, I don’t have the council majority with me. The mayor may be the chief executive, but we can’t move without the council’s

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support,” he said.

“Not all councilors agree with my programs, we have our differences,” the mayor added.”But I want our citizens to know that I’m not looking for anything except leaving a legacy, something that someday our residents can say that these things happened under Mayor Joric, that I did some-

thing good for them.”

“I got nothing left to prove, but I thank them for bringing me back and trusting me again,” Gacula added. “It’s the first time in Taytay that an ex-mayor has returned to the post; usually incumbents don’t get back. I’ll ask them for more councilors in 2019, so I can do more for our town.”

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LGUs

D3

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

TAYTAY’S MUNICIPAL TIANGGE: THE NEW HAVEN FOR SHOPPERS

By Jovy Medina-Leonardo

S

OME of the most famous flea markets or “tiangge” in Metro Manila can be found in Baclaran, Divisoria and Pasig. But one tiangge just outside the metropolis is making a name as the new haven for shoppers looking for the best bargains on quality-made clothes and accessories.

That would be the municipal tiangge of Taytay, Rizal, which is supplied by the town’s robust garments industry and has propelled progress in this suburb to the east of Manila.

One of the 14 towns of the province of Rizal, Taytay used to be known for its carpenters, whose wives would set

up their small garment shops at the “silong” or ground level of their houses to augment the family income.

Over time, these families prospered and soon saw their goods going to Baclaran, Divisoria and Pasig, which is closest to Taytay, but they would have to endure the distance of crossing from

one side of Metro Manila to the other and the persistent traffic of the big city.

In 2010, the administration of Taytay Mayor Joric Gacula saw the need and the potential hosting these garment vendors in their own local tiangge in town. Hence, the Municipal Council amended the Taytay Local Tax Ordinance No. 10, establishing the tiangge in Kalayaan Park to encourage small retailers to register their businesses and sell their goods in their own town.

The Kalayaan Tiangge was an instant success, and garnered an initial 400 registered retailers.

After three years, the local government decided to authorize a council resolution approving a lease contract with

Club Manila East Compound, offering a larger space for the tiangge that could accommodate even more micro, small and medium garments makers.

The flea market thus assumed its present name, the Taytay Municipal Tiangge, and the new location brought a total of 1,516 vendors during its opening.

With the tiangge firmly in place, many informal enterprises were enticed to integrate into the mainstream formal economy, helping Taytay reap a tenfold increase in small business registrants and giving the town the 2015 Galing Pook Award for its Local Garments Industry Institutionalization program.

At present, the local government aims to elevate the standards and quality of the lo-

cal products through planning and preparing the vendors for upcoming innovations.

For instance, Gacula is proposing a mall-like structure to house the Municipal Tiangge, offering more accessible store spaces, clean and sanitized comfort rooms, and comfortable air-conditioned lounges for both vendors and customers.

The local government is also looking at Taytay’s garments trade as the frontliner of its tourism industry, not just for the Philippines but for visitors from abroad.

Special thanks to Taytay Public Information Office: Angel Gondra (researcher), Descartes Yerro (graphics) and Bhizel Torres

D4

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

LGUs

Local Gov’t Units

THE PARENT’S ROLE AGAINST BULLYING

Taytay Public Information Office head Jovy Medina-Leonardo explains why fathers and mothers should advise their kids against being harassed and intimidate in school and online As told to Jimbo Gulle

“A

NTI-BULLYING is one of my primary advocacies aside from good governance and ethical leadership. We have a lot of kids in Taytay, and research shows that they pull out of schools, won’t go to school, or worse commit suicide because of bullying.

“Kids are not aware they’re bullying already.

Research says these bullies, at one point in their lives, were also bullied, so they’re doing it to others. We need to make them stop, put a stop to this. We don’t want to add to the children who died, who didn’t go to school, who bring (the trauma of bullying) with them until they grow older.

“To tell you honestly, a lot of kids who get bullied don’t speak up or talk about it. That’s what I’m worried about. That’s where I want to strengthen my advocacy, to make it into an international campaign, not just a national one, not just here in Taytay. If they don’t express their sentiments and unload their emotional burden, this triggers a different expression in the form of suicides, because their sentiments are suppressed.

“Sometimes kids don’t have anyone to talk about it with. Why? When they are angered at school or elsewhere, they feel they can’t say it to their parents. Sometimes it’s the same way in schools. There are some instructions to teachers that say they shouldn’t feel pressured when parents come to them. A lot of things can trigger these kids to decide on something that really brings grief, especially to parents.

“Why do I want to talk about this in December?

It’s when people become highly emotional. During December, a lot of people see others buying stuff and getting bonuses. Not everyone gets that opportunity to have a lot of money by then. Why

are crime rates high during December? Police records show that, and there’s another study that shows kids’ emotional burden increasing during this month, because they don’t feel complete because of that financial or material lack.

“It may be that during this month they lack even more attention from their parents, because they’re busy, so they don’t have anyone to tell their problems to. So they don’t know how to fight life’s battles this way, because parents don’t or can’t explain to them how to be emotionally stable. Usually some parents would say ‘don’t worry about it, that’s kid stuff’ but it’s not explained to them that these ‘fights’ are already a form of bullying.

“Bullying isn’t just physical. There’s an anti-cyber bullying movement going around. Kids also aren’t aware that cyber-bullying is a way that can hurt people. Even on their Facebook accounts, their shout-outs are also bullying others, but they’re not aware of it.

“We made something called ‘Loser: A Short Film’ (filmed by her husband, Aldrine Leonardo -- Editor). It’s reached over 11 million hits now on YouTube. It’s already being used by WAALM (World Academy of Arts, Literature and Media), and it’s searchable on Google. WAALM got my permission to use the film, I didn’t ask for copyright or any royalties because it’s an advocacy.

I’m happy foreign artists have used this in their campaigns. This is a big accomplishment, for any

Parents and extended family are a great help for children getting bullied. Jovy Medina thanks her husband Aldrine and her parents—here pictured during their golden wedding anniversary—for their support of their three precious kids, Acee, AJ and JM.

Jovy Medina-Leonardo wasn't particularly bullied as a child, but gained a fresh appreciation of the issue after her daughter was bullied and called names at a prestigious private school.

person to get 11 million hits on YouTube.

“I did the script, I directed the shoot for ‘Loser.’

It started with a program of Siena College organized by parents like me, and we showed the effects of bullying on children. With the help of a lot of people -- it’s a very short film, about five minutes – you can see the message, and its essence is obvious. This plays on karma; the gist of the story is that a girl in high school, an older sister, bullies someone, but doesn’t know that her sister in elementary school is also being bullied.

“At the end of the story -- it’s a very heartwarming story -- you can see that there’s a twist, where people can see that even if the older sister was bullying someone, that girl being bullied was the one who helped her younger sister at the end of the story. There’s a redeeming factor to it. We hope to spread this film because I really hope no one else kills themselves because they’re being bullied and get depressed because of this problem.

“Why am I so involved with this? I’ve been thinking about it, and all I can think of is people kept calling me ‘short’ when I was younger, the usual things kids would annoy each other with. But I kept thinking about it and said to myself, does this affect the way I feel about the issue? Maybe yes, but

it also made me a better person, because I used it and ‘twisted’ it to my advantage. Some people can’t do that because we each have our own emotional strength. Some can fight it, some can’t. Some get depressed about it, some turn it into a positive, and make themselves better over it.

“In my case, fortunately I’m a goal-oriented person, when there’s a problem I always think ‘I can handle this, there are a lot of solutions for this.’

I’d ask myself, ‘What are the possible solutions?

What are the next steps? What else can we do?’

I wouldn’t settle or stagnate at a certain point.

Somehow that gets me through my problems.

“I really didn’t have problems with bullying growing up, but I love to read, and I really get affected by stories of people getting bullied. I can identify with them. Then it happened to my daughter, who I transferred to another school. I talked to her because she was being called names like ‘monkey.’ I told the bully, ‘Do you know what a monkey looks like? Would you be happy if someone called you a monkey?’ I put her through the process, of making her understand it.

That probably triggered (this advocacy) for me, because I thought ‘What if there were no mothers who could talk to their children about that, to process it for them?’ Because the kid didn’t know she was bullying my daughter, she wasn’t aware of it. To think kids at that school, these were ‘elite’ kids, whose parents were politicians, tycoons, you name it.

“I’m just bringing attention to the problem, because people aren’t aware of it, even the parents don’t know they’re bullying their own kids. Bit by bit, it dawned on me, I was convicted of it. I should spread the word about it.”

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Young Life

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 Isah V. Red, Editor / Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com.ph

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Head straight to wherever you want to go after working out wearing Saucony Kineta Relay

THE MUSIC RUN

MAKES RUNNING SOUND SO GOOD

By Bernadette Lunas

“H

EALTHY lifestyle is increasingly becoming an important part of the lives of millennials. But [with doing so] they don’t want to sacrifice fun. They want to have fun.”

This is how Ben Pember and his teammates over at Exceed Sports & Entertainment see the preference of this generation of 18 to 35 years old for healthy, physical activities. It’s no longer just sweating it out and calling it a day. Exercising has to be an experience—an enjoyable experience at that.

In anticipation that mass participation sports, such as running, will be the next big thing, paired with the aforementioned inclination of youth towards “healthy ways to have fun,” Exceed—an event and sponsorship group—launched The Music Run. The Music Run is a non-competitive, untimed five-kilometer run and music festival. Yes, you read it right. It’s a fun run and a music fest rolled into one event.

It features an immersive musical experience that takes runners through a five-kilometer course called “The Sound Track.” The route is divided into five Music Zones, in onekilometer distance each. The course starts with Rock, followed by Pop, then Old School, Hip Hop, and ends with Dance. Each themed zone plays five songs under the said genre. The playlist is picked by the Music Runners prior to the event via a customized Spotify voting mechanism.

The idea is to make participants hear the songs they would listen to when they’re running by themselves, only this time everyone can hear it.

“Millions of people use music to enhance their running experience, but usually they’re doing that using their headphones, and it’s a very personal experience,” Pember told Manila Standard. “We wanted to transform that experience and make it something that you could share with thousands of your friends.”

The first gunshot of The Music Run was fired in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014. Since then it became a global phenomenon that spread in Bangkok, Hamburg, Los Angeles and New York, among others.

And for the second time, the beat was heard in Manila on Dec. 3, following its successful debut at the Philippine Arena last year.

An energetic crowd of over 10,000 flocked to McKinley West in Taguig City to “live the beat” while sneakily squeezing in an hour of workout. “Last year we had about 8,000 [participants], so it was a healthy increase [this year],” said Pember.

The Music Run by Philam Vitality participants traversed the course lined up with 120 concert-quality speakers pumping 150,000 watts of music—meaning there was a song playing in every step from Start to Finish.

Pushing further the immersive experience, special interactive activities were set up in each zone: cool pyrotechnics welcomed runners in the Rock zone, a tunnel with hanging balls in the Pop zone, a stage featuring AirAsia crew lip-synching to Turn to E2

STEP OUT FROM WORKOUT TO HANG OUT IT IS indeed the age of seamless transition. If something can be used in multiple ways, for multiple occasions, we vie for it. A versatile item that can get you through various circumstances is favored over an object whose use is limited to one.

This applies to shoes as well.

A regular day involving work or school, gym, and leisure leaves little time to worry about switching from one footwear to another. No wonder “athleisure” is such a hit among young individuals.

What this generation is looking for when it comes to shoes is a pair that can blur the lines between working out and hanging out. And this need is addressed

by Saucony Kineta Relay.

The latest Kineta Relay combines style and function as it is made for light workouts and an active lifestyle. It features a breathable mesh upper and Form2U ultra-plush memory foam footbed, delivering all-day comfort whether you’re running circuits or running around town.

Its high-abrasion EVA foam with triangular lugs that provide grip and durability makes it the ideal footwear to wear for whatever the day will bring you.

Kineta Relay’s Life On The Run collection is made for workout and hangout.

Saucony brought in personalities to the recently concluded The Music Run, wherein it was the official footwear partner. Sibling models Jessica and Sky Yang, travel photographers Thomas Caja and Kimi Juan, models Patricia Henson and Vince Vandorpe, athlete Patrik Franksson, and blogger JP de Leon joined the thousands of participants wearing their Saucony Kineta Relay on the track. DJ and model Sam Withers also sported his Kineta Relay pair as he spun the latest EDM hits during the afterrun party.

Kineta Relay is available at Saucony stores in Glorietta 3, Trinoma, UP Town Center, and leading sports specialty shops and department stores nationwide.

MORE PARTY THAN RUN. Manila warmly welcomed The Music Run 2016, which featured an immersive music and running experience and before- and after-run concerts featuring Sud and DJ Sam Withers

Kineta Relay is ideal for short runs

Young Life

E2

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Children run with Ronald McDonald

RUN FOR READING THE rain did not stop runners for the Manila leg of McDo Stripes Run: Run for Reading at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

If anything, the drizzly morning of Nov. 26 emboldened the close to 6,000 young and old runners, donning red and white stripes socks and shirt, to push further to help thousands of Filipino children learn how to read.

Now on its seventh year, the highly anticipated run helps about 12 million Grade 1 and 2 public school pupils all over the country to improve their literacy skills. Proceeds from the 2016 edition of Stripes Run, amounting to P2 million, were donated to Ronald McDonald’s House Charity, Read To Learn.

The wide range of categories of Stripes Run is open for young and old runners. Kiddie Stripes is a onekilometer for ages eight years old and below, Young Stripes is a threekilometer run for eight to 15-year olds. 3K, 5K and 10K Stripes are for 16 years old and above. There’s also Team Stripes, a three-kilometer run for teams composed of two adults and two kids.

Running along with the participants were McDonald’s endorsers Dingdong Dantes, Marian Rivera, Alden Richards, Maine Mendoza, McCoy de Leon, Elisse Joson, Miguel Tanfelix, and Bianca Umali. Other McDonald’s ambassadors such as child actor Alonzo Muhlach, UAAP volleyball player Kianna Dy and MYX VJ Donny Pangilinan were also there to show their support for the advocacy.

Cebuanos also joined in the fun and meaningful activity at the Stripes Run held in Cebu City on Dec. 3.

5 INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS

THAT YOU SHOULD FOLLOW RIGHT NOW

They’re not celebrity but they might as well be if IG were a TV show

I

T IS easy to get suck into the black hole that is Instagram. With its 500 million monthly active users, there obviously is no shortage of people and organizations and animals – yes, animals! – to follow.

And, while the photo-sharing social media website is dominated by celebrities in terms of number of followers, so much so that whatever they post on their account ends up in the news, there are plenty of non-celebrity accounts that are also worthy of your follow and double tap.

These Instagram accounts keep IG a diverse world with their posts that are dedicated toward different things. Here are five treasures we found on Instagram that we believe you should follow right now.

should follow for when you want to learn the art of makeup application. A hair and makeup artist, she posts “mini” tutorials on curling hair and putting rouge lipstick. She features before and after shots of herself showing awesome transformation. It also helps that she lists down the products she uses to achieve such looks.

For daily dose of cuteness: @marutaro

You’d find it difficult not to say “aww” at least five times once you see the videos and photos of one of Japan’s canine celebrity Maru Taro.

Maru is a Shiba Inu that captured the hearts of the many—in Japan and beyond—because of his friendliness, handsomeness and fluffiness. This dog, whose name is Japanese for “round,” is more photogenic than many of us beautifying-app-dependent people.

On his IG account, handled by his owner Shinjiro Ono, Maru can be seen doing cute and strange photo ops, hanging out with his non-dog friends, playing catch with his human, and dozing off adorably—his way of letting his 2.5 million fans get a good night sleep just like him.

McDonald’s Philippine president and CEO Kenneth Yang (second from left) poses with McDo’s character mascots

For creative stimulation: @aninarubio

From left: Aaron Atayde, Bianca Umali, Miguel Tanfelix, Yang, Maine Mendoza, Alden Richards and Jackie Lou Blanco

THE MUSIC...

From E1

the top voted songs in the Old School zone, photo opportunities with graffiti artists and dancers in the Hip Hop zone, and a mobile disco tunnel with glowing lights in the Dance zone.

Before hitting the track, Music Runners are treated to a pre-party at the Music Village featuring alternative soul band Sud; Gold’s Gym led the mass warm up. There was also a number of music and fitness-inspired booths around the Music Village courtesy of event sponsors.

For the music festival aspect of the event, Australian radio house DJ Sam Withers, who was a big hit in last year’s after-run concert, kept the energy high with his upbeat mixes complemented by laser lights and dance performances. He even led Manila’s biggest mannequin challenge—a viral Internet video trend—as everyone came to a standstill.

At the end of the day, the event was both a healthy and fun experience. Who would have thought that running would sound this good?

For home design inspiration: @homepolish

These IG account is the perfect #homeinspo if you’re looking for ways to redecorate your space. It actually is the Instagram account of an interior design firm founded by online news media company coder Will Nathan and high-end interior designer Noa Santos in 2012.

It features photos of the projects of its over 200 designers in cities across the US. Its 1.2 million followers take cue from the wide array of interior design inspiration this account posts, from minimal modernism to classic and eclectic design.

For makeup tips and tricks: @nikkietutorials

Putting on makeup is hard.

It’s art and it requires a tedious process of trial and error and lots of practice. That’s why for clueless folks who have little to no idea how to do a wingtip liner or those who want to improve their blending skills, makeup tutorials are a gift sent from heaven.

Nikkie’s 6.3 million followers and stunning images with makeup on are proof enough that this is the gal who you

Anina Rubio is a Filipina visual artist popular for her works in calligraphy. On her website, she says she takes inspiration from nature and her travels, which then reflects to her creations that are inspiring for her more than 47,000 followers.

Her painted artworks made their way from her Instagram account to home and fashion items of brands with which she collaborated.

Anina’s inspiring quotes rendered in delicate calligraphy are also double tap-worthy. Her account is colorful, delightful and artistic, that you might find yourself interested in taking up calligraphy or painting.

For body ink idea: @justsmalltattoos

Those who have embraced the immortal potential of body art or those who plan to one day get inked, can find inspiration from the many tattoo-dedicated Instagram accounts.

But this one is not all about full-on body ink, as this profile features tiny tattoos that range from simple patterns such as heart, anchor and crescent moon to inspirational words and phrases to small elaborate geometric figures that would possibly inspire you to get one.

Perhaps it’s our love for minimalist, cute and sort of non-committal that this IG account has 1.3 million followers, as of this writing.

DOUBLE TAP-WORTHY. Want to break the monotony of your IG feed?

Follow these 5 accounts, stat! Photos from @marutaro, @homepolish, @nikkietutorials, @aninarubio and @justsmalltattoos

Showbiz

MICHAEL PANGILINAN’S

AMAZING TRANSFORMATION

L

AST year, singer Michael Pangilinan transformed into Adam Levine, Tracy Chapman, Marco Sison, Bono (of U2), Michael V and Brandon Beal, to name a few, during the first season of Your Face Sounds Familiar.

Last week though, the pop singer who turned 21 on Nov. 26, started posting a series of transformation photos that made his fans and followers swoon. He was not impersonating any local or Hollywood star, this time, it was his fitness transformation that Michael shared with his social media followers.

The singer, who popularized the hit song “Pare Mahal Mo Raw Ako,” has become addicted to going to the gym after seeing the result of hitting a fitness center regularly.

Through proper diet and with the help of his fitness instructor, he’s able to achieve his fitness goal fast and easy.

To show off his physical transformation, which he is obviously proud of, he posted a series of shirtless photos (20 photos to be exact) that he captioned “Birthday Series.”

“Today’s actions are tomorrow’s results…I’m going to make you so proud,” he said referring to the gains he’s made after months of rigorous training at the gym.

Michael was discovered in 2012 when he auditioned for the first season of X-Factor Philippines. He was able to pass the auditions and the bootcamp but failed to make it to the Top 12 during the judges’ home visit.

His career didn’t take off until a video scandal of him went viral online. In an interview with ABS-CBN, the singer admitted that he was indeed the guy on the video pleasuring himself that was recorded three or four years ago.

He said he is a now changed man especially that he already has a kid who recently just turned one. Despite the controversy, the runner-up of ABS-CBN’s Your Face Sounds Familiar is thankful for the enduring support he received from his family and friends.

Michael hopes that his amazing body transformation from a lanky teenager into a hunky man will also inspire people who wanted to see a better version of themselves.

FITNESS ADDICT.

Young singer Michael Pangilinan flexes for his social media followers. The singer turned 21 last month and posted a total of 20 shirtless photos to show off his fitness transformation.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016

E3

VIRAL

CHLOE MORETZ’ PINAY DOPPELGANGER THERE have been many featured doppelgangers circulating in the news today but Chloe Grace Moretz’s look-alike proves to be the most popular one when it broke the internet on Wednesday.

A photo of a young Filipina identified as Edcell Ched, who is working in a fast-food chain and studying at City of Malabon University, has caught the eye of many after the American actress and model tweeted about it on Dec. 7. Ched’s pictures immediately reached Moretz’s attention via Twitter and the star seemed to approve on their resemblance.

On Nov. 30, netizen Jesse Carls uploaded on Facebook a snapshot of a fast-food crew member, who shares a striking physical resemblance with the 19-year-old Hollywood star, best known for her roles in The Amityville Horror, Carrie, If I Stay and The 5th Wave.

People are obsessed with the uncanny likeness of the two that a series of their photos now flood the Internet.

A screengrab of Chloe Moretz's tweet about her Pinay look-alike

MEET KRIESHA TIU Seventeen-year-old Kriesha Tiu is making waves on South Korean television after she impressed the judges not only for dance moves and singing talent, but also for her good command of the Korean language.

Tiu, also known as Chrisha Choo, is a trainee for Urban Works ENT, a Korean agency. Originally from Cebu, the young Filipino talent was scouted by the company while she was in San Francisco, California.

She then flew to Korea with her mother and younger brother. Choo said she went to a Korean institute to study the language, while honing her skills with the company.

During her audition for K-Pop Star 6, Choo performed “I Don’t Love You”

by Urban Zakapa. She also danced to Justin Bieber’s ''Boyfriend.''

The judges, YG Entertainment’s Yang Hyun-suk, JYP Entertainment’s Park Jin-young, and Antenna Music’s You Hee-yeol, were impressed with Choo’s performance, with Yang saying he wants to bring her into his company right away.

Future K-Pop star Kriesha Tiu a.k.a Chisha Choo

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Sunday, December 11, 2016

ACROSS 1 Winning 6 Nonchalant 11 Bovary and Peel 16 Diner’s request 21 He split the atom 22 Landlords’ income 23 Sugarbush tree 24 Common expression 25 Dress style (hyph.)

26 Silver bar 27 Humbug!

28 — Dame 29 Raining ice 31 Oafs 33 Counting-rhyme start 35 Spike TV, once 36 Chuck 37 Etta — of the comics 39 “Iliad” king 41 Used tire 43 Rink event (2 wds.)

46 Aboveboard 48 Sci. class 49 Antacid, for short 52 Gather roses 54 Restore a house 56 Stirred up 60 Far from gregarious 62 Blueprint, briefly 64 “Abra-Ca- —” 66 Fill the hull 67 155, in old Rome 68 — B’rith 70 Architects’ wings 72 Uris and Spinks 74 Dixie, once 75 Hull part 77 Bombay nanny 79 Fair-hiring org.

81 A — — care!

82 Util. bill 83 Fashion 85 Literary collections 87 Cello kin 89 Genghis Khan et al.

91 Annoy 93 Made good 96 Before marriage 97 Musher’s vehicle 101 Cowardly Lion portrayer 102 Unit of length 104 Bracelet’s place 108 Unlatch, to a bard 109 Exuberance 111 Mild-mannered 113 Not-so-funny Marx 115 Fret silently 116 Pay dirt 117 Cabbie’s fare 119 Industrial giant 121 Prejudice 123 A Bobbsey twin 124 Harum-scarum 126 Allotted 128 Play the trumpet

130 Concert performer 132 Bundle of grain 134 Sneakier 136 DEA operative 138 REM events 139 Rear-end 141 Oui and ja 143 Like a bright night 145 Thug 149 Kind of iron 151 Quartet minus one 152 Arroyo 156 911 responder 157 Fictional pirate 159 Atahualpa subject 161 Stranger 163 Hike 165 Bias 167 Kind of relief 169 Bakery enticement 170 Cager Shaq — 171 Better trained 172 Pastis flavor 173 Majorette’s gait 174 Grimy 175 Disrespectful 176 Courtroom rituals 177 Not here DOWN 1 Pull — — one 2 Parrot’s word 3 Great Lakes tribe 4 He can’t remember 5 Cut calories 6 Pickling solutions 7 Durations 8 Filmmaker — Lee 9 Small-runway plane 10 Legally prevent 11 Hungrier 12 Rubbed down 13 Radar meas.

14 Aves have them 15 Storm drain 16 Falsetto singer (2 wds.)

17 Hubbub 18 Please, to Fritz 19 “— Doone” 20 Revise 30 Flower-arranging art 32 Home page addr.

34 Cornhusker st.

38 Weight units 40 Taj — 42 Churn up 44 Cheat sheet 45 Towel off 47 Sticker 49 Goes in reverse 50 Archipelago dot 51 Quail family 53 Volcano goddess 55 Sweep 57 Hobby knife (hyph.)

58 Detroit dud

59 61 63 65 69 71 73 76 78 80 84 86 88 90 92 94 95 97 98 99 100 103 105 106 107 110 112 114

Super buys Mantra chanter Most ingenious Writer — Chekhov Holm and Fleming Peau de — Tendon Attorneys’ degs.

Drive a semi Buffalo Bill — Calculus pioneer Fleece Roof problem — of an idea Almost frozen Huntley or Atkins Dingy Entryways Ms. Winfrey Some take a gander Lower wall panels Trickle down Ephesus’ locale Charley horse Oasis abodes Nice — (prig) Unstable meson Went to earth (2 wds.)

118 120 122 125 127 129 131 133 135 137 140 142 144 145 146 147 148 150 153 154 155 158 160 162 164 166 168

California’s Point — Gallivant Hindu attire Like some cider Preordains Slow run Assets (2 wds.)

Incorrectly NASA splashdown (hyph.)

— hen Silent Marsupial pocket Daughters’ cousins Salome danced for him Yemeni neighbor Basket willow Butte cousins Port near Hong Kong Love in a gondola Protest Steamed Isle off Sicily Singer — Hendryx Autograph site Practiced Zen Hirt and Pacino Cambridge univ.

E4

Showbiz

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016 Isah V. Red, Editor / Nickie Wang, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com

PITTING

LIZA SOBERANO AGAINST

MAINE MENDOZA

By Nickie Wang

S

TEMMING from the ongoing skirmish between ABS-CBN and GMA 7 is the clash of celebrities and talents associated with the respective media outfits.

Indeed, network war, which most of the time fueled by fans’ fervent support for their idols, goes beyond the ratings game.

Kapamilya darling Liza Soberano and Kapuso star Maine Mendoza are the latest subject of a celebrity face-off that threw fans into rabid frenzy.

In one of the trending videos on YouTube this week, netizens were engaged in a virtual word war when Mofo Daily, a popular American channel on the video sharing site known for curating pop trends across the globe, pitted the 18-year-old Kapamilya against the 21-year-old Kalyeserye star. The video is entitled “For The Win: Maine Mendoza vs Liza Soberano.”

In three rounds, the three pairs of judges, who are all Americans, compared the Dolce Amore star with the Dubsmash Queen based on their Instagram feed, respective Nescafe coffee commercials and film trailers (Imagine You and Me for Maine and Everyday I Love You for Liza) During the voting rounds, one of the judges claimed that she is a big fan of Maine after seeing her Dubsmash clips but admitted that she has not heard of Liza yet.

“She’s way too prettier than this dude,” the panelist said of Maine referring to her movie poster with his onscreen partner Alden Richards.

A male judge, on the other hand, commented that Liza’s beauty needs no advertisements as he goes through the young actress’s Instagram feed.

“She’s super cute, it’s not so much personality and I’m into that,” another panelist said describing Liza.

Maine dominated the first two rounds and Liza won the hearts of the panelists during the last round. But in the end, the panelists made a unanimous decision and chose Maine over Liza and shouted in unison, “Maine Mendoza for the win!”

Maine has a special participation along with Alden in the latest installment of the Enteng Kabisote film series. The film received unfavorable reviews from critics and the film producers are still mum on the box office performance of the Vic Sottostarrer comedy. Most cinemas owners are starting to pull the movie out of their theaters due to its anemic performance at the tills.

Meanwhile, Liza set the Internet ablaze once more when her photo wearing a black leather jacket with her left shoulder exposed hit the online world. In less than 24 hours since it was posted, Liza’s stunning photo already garnered close to 200,000 “likes” and more than 2,100 comments. The 18-yearold Kapamilya also made it to Twitter’s trending topics that day proving nobody gets tired of her look.

SARCASTIC. This cropped version of Baron Geisler peeing on a wall is taken by people as his sardonic response to his detractors

5 TIMES

BARON GEISLER BECAME CONTROVERSIAL MOST of the time, stars are being praised for their acting skills and personality and there are those who make noise for being on the other side of the spectrum. Actor Baron Geisler is a perfect example of the latter, and in this week’s listicles, we are listing down his notorious stunts that gave him the moniker “Showbiz Badass.”

1. Wild Child Geisler was kicked out of Pinoy Big Brother house The self-confessed dipsomaniac repeatedly had drinking fits inside Kuya’s house. He was evicted the first time after he showed his drunken antics to his fellow housemates. He screamed, stole kisses from the girls and swore at Kuya.

2. When his naughty hands wickedly grop ed Cherr y Pie Picache’s bosom While on the set of a teleserye back in 2011, Geisler allegedly groped Picache’s breast. After the incident, Picache filed a harassment complaint against Geisler who later made a public apology to the actress. He voluntarily entered himself into a rehab institution for a 90-day treatment session. Four other harassment controversies were reported, which involved Patricia Martinez, Yasmien Kurdi, and Julia Clarete.

3. When he assaulted a UP student over an ‘idiot board’ A video made rounds online with Geisler shouting and picking up a fight with a University of the Philippines students. The video showed an enraged Geisler shouting and physically assaulting a student.

He was throwing a fit over a delayed script. After the incident, the two parties involved immediately resolved the issue and asked people to move on.

4. Geisler and Kiko Matos’ bar fight video Just after the video of Geisler seen fighting with a UP filmmaking student went viral, another one came out fast as it was him involved in a brawl again. This time, it‘s with indie actor Kiko Matos in a bar on Tomas Morato, Quezon City. According to a witness, the two went ballistic, wrangling and exchanging blows after Geisler confronted Matos on his rude behavior towards a bartender.

The fight ended up in a celebrity match picked up by a major network.

5. Juicehead Geisler peed on his co-actor, Ping Medina And last but not the least, which can be the no. 1 on the list is the latest and by far, the most controversial Baron Geisler stunt taken to a whole new level, another round pulled off by his, none other than, drunkard self.

And this is still a developing story as of this writing. Bianca Domingo